SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Friday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Saratoga Special drew a solid field of 11 2-year-olds when entries were taken Sunday. On Monday, the field was reduced to 10 as trainer Wesley Ward opted to send Roderick to Del Mar for Saturday’s Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes.
Roderick, an 8 1/4-length debut winner June 21 at Belmont, drew the outside post in an 11-horse field in the Saratoga Special. He drew post 4 of 7 in the Best Pal.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice has enjoyed a productive summer at Saratoga shipping horses in from Belmont Park a few days before they race and not breezing them over the main track here. She hopes it’s a trend that continues Saturday when she runs Max Player in the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes, the marquee event of the Saratoga meet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Last September, Collusion Illusion had trainer Mark Glatt stumped.
After winning the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes for sprinters in his stakes debut at the Del Mar summer meeting, Collusion Illusion was pulled up after fading rapidly on the backstretch in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
Collusion Illusion was walked back to Glatt’s barn, leaving questions surrounding his performance.
Trainer Frank Lucarelli reported Sunday that Time for Gold came out of her impressive win in the $36,000 Angie C. for 2-year-old fillies Thursday in excellent shape and will be pointed to the $40,000 Barbara Shinpoch on Aug. 27.
Just how impressive was Time for Gold’s nine-length victory in the 5 1/2-furlongs Angie C.?
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Echo Town, the 3 1/2-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga, may have earned a shot to go a little farther in distance in the Grade 2, $500,000 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5, trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday.
Echo Town rallied from 4 1/2 lengths off the pace and widened through the lane to win the Jerkens convincingly, running seven furlongs in 1:22.53 and earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
Trainers Ryan Hanson and Jerry Hollendorfer were fined by Del Mar stewards Saturday for recent infractions regarding a medication violation and the registration of a gelding.
Hanson was fined $500 after Weston showed the presence of the anti-inflammatory flunixin in a post-race test after the gelding won a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Santa Anita on June 21.
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The two-time stakes winner El Tigre Terrible may have his graded stakes debut in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 29.
Trainer Peter Miller said the $150,000 O’Brien is a goal following El Tigre Terrible’s win against 3-year-old statebreds in the Real Good Deal Stakes at seven furlongs Friday. The O’Brien Stakes would be El Tigre Terrible’s first start outside of his age group.
“He handled seven-eighths really well,” Miller said.
Madone won her debut in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds fillies on turf at a convenient time at Del Mar on Friday.
The previous day, track officials announced the restoration of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf to the stakes schedule. The race had been eliminated from the calendar for the summer meeting earlier this year because of a purse reduction forced by the coronavirus outbreak.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gamine and Bellafina, slated for major Grade 1 races on Saturday at Saratoga, both put in their final works on Sunday at Del Mar.
Gamine, a 3-year-old filly, is coming off a spectacular win in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park two months ago. In her final prep for the Test Stakes, she worked six furlongs in 1:12.80, going from the five-furlong pole to the seven-furlong pole while leaving her workmate well behind coming to the finish.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Thousand Words and Honor A. P. are both headed to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs after emerging in good order from the Shared Belief Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar, their trainers said Sunday morning.
The Shared Belief was the final West Coast prep for the Derby, and it produced a surprisingly high 104 Beyer Speed Figure after the four runners all finished within 1 1/2 lengths of each other.
