Guarana and Rushing Fall, whose Saturday scores as odds-on favorites at Keeneland gave Chad Brown the 100th and 101st Grade 1 victories of his illustrious career, both were flown Monday to Saratoga as Brown considers the best paths to return to Kentucky for their Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 7.
Guarana won the seven-furlong Madison when re-rallying under Jose Ortiz. Some 90 minutes later, Rushing Fall edged away late under Javier Castellano to win the Jenny Wiley at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
War of Will, believed to be just the third horse in modern history to win a Triple Crown event and a Grade 1 turf race, could run next in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 19, Casse said Monday.
“We’re not going to run him and Got Stormy against one another,” Casse said. “I want to run Got Stormy in the Fourstardave,” set for Aug. 22 at Saratoga. “But she needs a very firm turf, so we’ll have to watch the weather for that plan to come together.”
Art Collector is back in the quiet environs of the Skylight training center just east of Louisville, Ky., as his hometown connections ponder what will come next for a colt whose emphatic triumph Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes has made him a major contender for the 146th Kentucky Derby.
Jockey Eduard Rojas Fernandez took off his mounts at the Los Alamitos evening meeting over the weekend after he tested positive for coronavirus.
Fernandez made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday afternoon.
“I will be out for weeks,” he wrote in Spanish. “I took the test and I came out positive.”
He later contacted the stewards to inform them of the positive.
Total handle at the recently concluded five-day Keeneland meet in Lexington, Ky., was $63.3 million, the track announced, for average daily handle of $12.7 million.
The meet was held without spectators, though horse owners were allowed on the grounds. Earlier this year, Keeneland canceled its spring meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the track later reached a deal with Ellis Park to transfer that track’s racing dates so that Keeneland could run a five-day meet from July 8-12.
DEL MAR, Calif. – An unpaid $600 horse transport bill has cost Ahmed Zayat ownership privileges in California. Del Mar stewards on Sunday suspended Zayat “for failure to pay his debt owed to Brian Strong (dba B and S Equine Enterprises) in the amount of $600.”
The ruling states: “During the term of the suspension, all licenses and license privileges of Ahmed Zayat are suspended and pursuant to California Horse Racing Board rules … subject is denied access to all premises in this jurisdiction.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on jockeys, and Sunday afternoon the pandemic sidelined the top rider in Southern California.
Flavien Prat learned midday Sunday he tested positive, becoming the fourth jockey to test positive for coronavirus after riding July 4 at Los Alamitos. Victor Espinoza, Martin Garcia, and Luis Saez all tested positive after riding at Los Alamitos.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The first grass work of Storm the Court’s career went so well Sunday morning at Del Mar that trainer Peter Eurton and jockey Umberto Rispoli believe a surface switch would be just fine for the 2019 champion 2-year-old male.
“Rispoli said he’s got a motor on him on the grass,” Eurton said, implying the colt showed something in the turf work that he has not shown this year on dirt. “He could have another gear on the grass. We won’t know unless we try it,” Eurton said.
Hit the Road, winner of the $103,500 Runhappy Oceanside Stakes on Friday, may be given a chance at Del Mar history this summer.
The track runs three turf stakes for 3-year-olds at the summer meeting – the Oceanside at a mile on opening day, the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 9, and the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 5.
No horse has swept the three races since Ladies Din in 1998, an indication of the difficulty in conquering the series and the quirks in race conditions.
DEL MAR, Calif. – California-based 3-year-old sprinter Collusion Illusion will have a new rider when he ships to Saratoga for the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens, a sprint for 3-year-olds on Aug. 1. That is, if Collusion Illusion ships at all.
“I’ve given the call to Joel Rosario, but who knows where we’re going to be in a couple weeks,” trainer Mark Glatt said. “It just seems like it’s getting harder and harder to travel.”
