Santa Anita is constructing a turf chute on the first turn to allow races to be run at additional sprint distances as early as this winter and may resume sprint races on the hillside turf course next year for the first time since March 2019, track officials told the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.
The track received approval for an autumn meeting from Sept. 19 to Oct. 25 at Thursday’s racing board meeting, which was held via teleconference.
Del Mar plans to hand-time races on the turf course for the remainder of the summer meeting, through Sept. 7, after confusion arose in recent weeks regarding the accuracy of a newly installed GPS timing system.
Races on the main track will continue to be timed electronically, according to a statement released on Thursday by Equibase, which administers the timing system.
Aqueduct will race 18 days this fall, but Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) will not be one of them, according to a schedule released Thursday by the New York Racing Association.
The NYRA has traditionally held a stakes-laden card on Thanksgiving, but this year the track will be dark that day. The Fall Highweight Handicap, the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature, has been moved to the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 29.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ny Traffic has improved with every start since launching his 3-year-old campaign with an easy allowance win at Gulfstream Park more than seven months ago. And trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. is hoping that Ny Traffic – the “other” New York-bred in the field along with heavy favorite Tiz the Law – will have one more forward move in him on Kentucky Derby Day.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Unsurprisingly, multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma will not make the Grade 1 Forego Stakes here Aug. 29 because he missed too much time due to a foot bruise, part-owner Randy Hill said Thursday. Instead, Vekoma will point to the Grade 2 Vosburgh on Sept. 26 at Belmont Park, where earlier this year he won the Grade 1 Carter and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.
“It made sense,” said Hill, who owns Vekoma with Mike Gatsas. “We had a little trouble with his foot.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In her last trip south of the border, the Canadian-based mare Starship Jubilee upset the champion Sistercharlie in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga. In her next trip south of the border, Starship Jubilee will again meet Sistercharlie as well as her five-time Grade 1-winning stablemate Rushing Fall in Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Stakes at the Spa.
Sistercharlie and Rushing Fall are both trained by Chad Brown, who has won the Diana four consecutive years.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fillies have played a prominent role throughout Queen’s Plate history, and this year’s Queen’s Plate field could see three fillies enter the starting gate after the result of the Woodbine Oaks on Aug. 15.
A total of 37 fillies have won the Plate in the 160 runnings of the race, and a filly has won the Queen’s Plate in four of the last 10 runnings. The most recent filly to win the race was Wonder Gadot in 2018, and Inglorious (2011), Lexie Lou (2014), and Holy Helena (2017) parlayed success in the Woodbine Oaks into Queen’s Plate glory.
Trainer Karl Broberg won with all six starters he had on Wednesday night’s card at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La.
Broberg’s run of winners started in the third race with Breezy Bee ($4.40). He then won the fourth race with De Bird Is Da Word ($11), the fifth with Boston Bind ($4.40), the seventh with Take Charge Chase ($10.80), the eighth with Island Hideaway ($10.40), and the ninth with Move It ($3.80).
Tim Thornton rode five of Broberg’s winners, while Ty Kennedy was aboard Island Hideaway.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jorge Abreu, in his fifth year training on his own, is putting together a strong stable and he’s enjoying a solid Saratoga meet, with 6 wins from 18 starters through the first 24 days.
“The horses are running really well,” Abreu said. “I ran a lot of horses at Belmont that weren’t supposed to run, that was the wrong spot, but I just wanted to get them ready for Saratoga.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mark Casse hopes Got Stormy can turn around her 2020 campaign in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave Handicap and, in turn, reverse course on what has been a trying Saratoga meet for the newly elected Hall of Fame trainer.
Entering Thursday’s card, Casse was winless with 28 starters at Saratoga. He has six seconds, four of those coming in stakes.
“It’s not been pretty,” Casse said by phone from Florida. “We’ve been unlucky in a few spots.”
