SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Guarana, a three-time Grade 1-winning filly, won’t race again this year, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.
“She had a setback, she’s going to need a 30-day break,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, the timing of it is terrible. No decision has been made on whether she will run again next year.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The field for the $500,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational on Sunday will have a familiar look to it, with the first four finishers from the Grade 2 Lake Placid here on July 19 to meet again.
One of those is Queens Embrace, who rallied from last to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths behind race winner Speaktomeofsummer, in the 1 1/8-mile Lake Placid. Queens Embrace earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure, matching her career best, posted just 16 days earlier for an entry-level allowance win against older horses at Monmouth Park.
The 9-year-old stakes winner Tribalist has been retired from racing after finishing last in an optional claimer for turf sprinters last Sunday at Del Mar.
Tribalist won the Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar in 2017, but lost his final 10 starts. He was second by a neck in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in 2017.
“He’s had a bunch of little nagging injuries,” trainer Blake Heap said Wednesday. “We’re going to retire him. He acts like he’s still got it, but he’s probably lost a step.”
There is sufficient time between a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday at Del Mar and a return engagement in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 6. A few of the nine fillies entered Saturday may have the talent to run in both races, even without a win on Saturday.
“I think there will be a lot of maidens in the Debutante,” trainer Bob Baffert said Thursday.
Authentic, the narrow winner of the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 18 at Monmouth Park, had his third workout of August at Del Mar on Thursday in preparation for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.
Authentic worked six furlongs in 1:12.60. Earlier this month, Authentic worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds on Aug. 1 and five furlongs in 1:03 on Aug. 8.
“I gave him a little company and gave him a little target,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “It was a good move. He went very well.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. wanted to make sure he found someone competitive enough in his barn to work with his Kentucky Derby-bound Ny Traffic after the renovation break here Thursday. And he found the perfect mate in the older Grade 1 winner Math Wizard.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A big weekend is ahead at Woodbine on the road to the $1 million Queen’s Plate, as seven of the top 10 contenders in Daily Racing Form’s Queen’s Plate Watch top 10 will be in action in two stakes preps Saturday afternoon.
The 161st edition of the Queen’s Plate will be run over 1 1/4 miles on Woodbine’s Tapeta on Sept. 12.
The $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes, the eighth race on Saturday’s card, features three horses in the top 10, including the No. 1-ranked horse, Clayton.
To hear him tell it, Peter Callahan gets to own a good horse every 10 years or so.
In 1999, he campaigned the Grade 1-winning 2-year-old Bevo. In 2009, there was the Grade 1 stakes-placed Beautician, who a year later would run a creditable fourth in the Kentucky Oaks. In 2011, Scotus won the Grade 3 Matt Winn for Callahan.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Beautiful Memories had her second work since being eased as the odds-on favorite on opening day in the Grade 3 Schuylerville here Wednesday morning, going five furlongs in 1:00.26 in company with older stablemate Fetching.
Beautiful Memories posted splits of 23.77 seconds and 35.67 before finishing in hand outside her partner, galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.93. Trainer Mark Casse said he is pointing Beautiful Memories to the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 6.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A field of eight 3-year-olds, topped by the Christophe Clement pair of Decorated Invader and Gufo, was drawn Wednesday for Saturday’s $500,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational at 1 3/16 miles on the turf.
Field Pass might give Clement’s duo their stiffest challenge in the Saratoga Derby. Field Pass is trained by Mike Maker, who won three turf stakes, two of them graded, during the opening half of the meet.
