Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said he is hoping to have a string at Saratoga this summer.
Joseph, who has developed one of the stronger barns on the East Coast with the likes of Math Wizard, Ny Traffic, and Tonalist’s Shape, said his goal is to have 12 to 16 horses at the Saratoga meet, which is scheduled to begin July 16.
“We now have the right clientele and the right kind of horses,” Joseph said. “Before we never had those kind of horses. Thankfully, we’re getting them now.”
Mischevious Alex was not on the work tab for seven weeks, but he was never out of training. Wednesday, the two-time graded stakes-winning 3-year-old returned to the work tab with a strong six-furlong move as he prepares for a return to the races in the Grade 1, $250,000 Woody Stephens Stakes on June 20 at Belmont Park.
The Woody Stephens is contested at seven furlongs and will be run the same day as the $1 million Belmont Stakes, now shortened to 1 1/8 miles.
The Louisiana Racing Commission on Wednesday voted narrowly to approve an amended dates application for Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., that will have the track starting its rescheduled live race meet on June 5.
Handle figures for the three-day weekend from May 15 through Sunday at Santa Anita were strong, despite the absence of ontrack handle amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
The three programs were the first racing days at Santa Anita since March 22 because of the pandemic. The track was ordered closed March 27 when it was deemed a nonessential business by the Los Angeles County Department of Publilc Health. County officials announced May 13 that Santa Anita could resume racing.
Donna Veloce, a graded stakes winner earlier this year, and one of the nation’s leading 2-year-old fillies in 2019, is scheduled to return to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable in June after a month-long break at a Florida farm.
Donna Veloce remains a long-range candidate for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs, Callaghan said.
“She had a tiny setback, but she’s in some light training at the farm,” Callaghan said earlier this month. “We’ve got time on our side now in regards to the Kentucky Oaks.
Trainers Chad Brown and Mark Casse are sending seven horses to Santa Anita for graded stakes on turf from Saturday through Monday.
Brown, who has won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding trainer the last four years, has five scheduled starters – Rockemperor in Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes, a $200,000 race at 1 1/4 miles; and two runners in each of the two Grade 1 races on Monday – the Shoemaker Mile and the Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles.
Trainers keep early hours, but Brendan Walsh awoke in a start the other morning at 3 a.m., earlier than usual. “My mind started to running,” he said.
That’s not the only thing he has running. After more than 7 1/2 months, Walsh on Saturday will finally get his prized colt Maxfield back to the races when he makes his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $150,000 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs. The anticipation has left Walsh both excited and anxious.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saffie Joseph Jr. has always wanted to run a 3-year-old at Churchill Downs in May. The 33-year-old trainer won’t get to do it in the Kentucky Derby – not yet, anyway – but he’ll try to move forward on the Derby trail Saturday when sending out Ny Traffic in the Matt Winn Stakes.
“The race fits for us, schedule-wise,” Joseph said this week by phone from Florida. “We’d like to run him in one more prep after this and hopefully pick up some more Derby points along the way.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Bret Calhoun is confident Mr. Money will get back to form in the $100,000 Blame Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs after a disappointing 4-year-old debut.
“You can draw a line through that last one,” said Calhoun, referring to a sixth-place finish in the April 11 Oaklawn Mile. “It started raining 15 or 20 minutes before the race and he never got settled, never took hold of the bridle, never got into the race.
WHO’S HOT
The lightly raced, unbeaten Pneumatic, who makes his stakes debut Saturday in the Matt Winn at Churchill Downs, is the latest newcomer to the Derby Watch top 20. He comes in as a 50-1 shot on the line set by Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby. There were no changes over the past fortnight to the other 19 runners in the top 20, with Nadal still slightly favored at 7-2 over the pair of Charlatan and Tiz the Law, who are 4-1. Those three are all under consideration for the reconstituted Belmont Stakes, set for June 20.
