SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Frank’s Rockette, Reagan’s Edge, and Center Aisle, separated by less than a length when running 1-2-3 in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 4 at Belmont Park, will square off again in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Prioress at Saratoga.
The Prioress, like the Victory Ride, is run at six furlongs.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mystic Guide, the beaten favorite in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes, will get the addition of blinkers when he looks to make amends in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.
Mystic Guide, a son of Ghostzapper owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Michael Stidham, was as far back as 11 lengths off the pace in the Peter Pan. He rallied to be third, 3 1/2 lengths behind winner Country Grammer.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Having watched Math Wizard train so well at Saratoga, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was torn between running him in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic last Friday or the Grade 1 Woodward here on Saturday.
It looks like he’ll run in both.
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Math Wizard, who finished fifth in the Charles Town Classic, was entered Wednesday in the Woodward, which drew a field of six led by Tacitus.
Del Mar plans to run 42 races from Friday through Labor Day in the closing days of the track’s summer meeting. It may take that long to determine a close race for leading rider.
Through Monday, Umberto Rispoli led the standings with 42 wins, one more than Flavien Prat, who won his third summer riding title at Del Mar last year. Rispoli, who relocated from Hong Kong last December, is riding at Del Mar for the first time this summer.
Rispoli had three wins Monday to take the lead, doing so on his 32nd birthday.
Jockey Brice Blanc was released from a San Diego area hospital Tuesday after sustaining broken ribs in a one-horse spill in the eighth race Monday at Del Mar.
Blanc is expected to be sidelined for six weeks, according to his agent, George Bradvica.
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Warren’s Showtime led by a length in the stretch of the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Aug. 22 before finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind upset winner Red Lark.
Warren’s Showtime will have a final chance for a stakes win at the Del Mar summer meeting when she starts on the same course and distance in Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Will Harbut Racing LLC, is one of the three owners of Kentucky Derby entrant Necker Island. Will Harbut’s name is familiar to students of racing history – he cared for the legendary Man o’ War in his stallion career in Kentucky for more than 16 years. The man behind Will Harbut Racing is the groom’s great-grandson, Greg Harbut, a bloodstock agent who named the operation for his family’s deep ties to racing, which are especially poignant in this year of racial unrest.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – For the first time in more than two decades, Angel Cordero Jr. won’t be rooting for his protégé John Velazquez to win the Kentucky Derby.
Arguably the most accomplished agent-jockey tandem in racing history, Cordero and Velazquez split up earlier this year after 22 years together. Cordero believes the split came at least in part because he fought hard for the connections of Tiz the Law to keep his other client, Manny Franco, on the horse when other riders were inquiring about replacing him following the horse’s only loss last fall.
Jockey Vinnie Bednar sustained lower-limb paralysis in a one-horse spill at Los Alamitos on Aug. 22, his father, Scott Bednar, said on Tuesday, and will be moved to a hospital in Colorado for treatment.
“The injuries are significant,” Scott Bednar said. “He lacks movement in his lower extremities. We’re hoping for the best in the long-term prognosis.”
