ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert had intended for Gamine to sit off another horse in Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park.
Then she drew the rail.
So, Baffert told jockey John Velazquez to let Gamine leave the gate running, and once he did that, Gamine never stopped, rolling to a smashing 18 3/4-length victory over Pleasant Orb in the $300,000 Acorn.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he basked in the quietude of a spectator-less Belmont Park on Saturday, trainer Barclay Tagg knows the noise level will be ratcheted up a few notches as the summer rolls on.
“You gotta get used to it, it’s the job,” Tagg said Sunday morning.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sonneman, winner of his last two starts, will make his stakes debut in Thursday’s $80,000 Easy Goer Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
Sonneman, a son of Curlin, was recently transferred to Steve Asmussen from Mark Hennig by the Courtlandt Farm of Don and Donna Adam. Sonneman drew post 4 and will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.
Casino Grande, winner of his first two starts for Christophe Clement, drew post 3 for the Easy Goer. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides.
Celtic Striker, Informative, Prodigious Bay, and Toy complete the Easy Goer field.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown wanted to see how Newspaperofrecord came out of her dominant four-length victory in the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes here June 6 before committing her to the Grade 1 Just a Game next Saturday.
But after watching her breeze a half-mile in 50.68 seconds Friday morning over the Belmont main track, Brown said Newspaperofrecord will run in the Just a Game.
“We’re going to go ahead and wheel her back in the Just a Game,” Brown said. “Just wanted to see how she was moving, her energy level. She looks good. Wish I had a little more time.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Code of Honor, half-length winner of the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes on June 6, returned to the work tab Friday morning, breezing a half-mile in 50.31 seconds, with a final quarter of 24.07, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Code of Honor galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.35 and six furlongs in 1:14.96.
Trainer Shug McGaughey said he is still taking a wait-and-see approach as to Code of Honor’s next start. The potential targets are the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on July 4 at Belmont or the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on Aug. 1 at Saratoga.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The 3-year-old Gouverneur Morris has developed a leg infection that could put an intended start in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on July 11 at Keeneland in jeopardy.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Gouverneur Morris was sent to the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland earlier in the week, where he would undergo oxygen-tank treatment. He is expected to be there for at least a week.
“It puts the Blue Grass as a question mark,” Pletcher said Friday. “The Peter Pan could be in play, we’ll just have to play it by ear.”
The job description defies logic. Accurately describe placings and margins of all runners in a race, write a narrative text of those performances, double check everything rapidly, and repeat the process every half-hour.
That has been the job at Southern California tracks since the fall of 1993 for Mike Schneider, who retires Sunday as a chart caller. In a few days, Schneider, 64, and his wife, Kathleen, will fly to New Orleans where they plan to retire.
Donna Veloce, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November, recently returned to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable at Santa Anita after a springtime rest at a farm in Florida. Donna Veloce remains a candidate for the Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.
“She’s back galloping,” Callaghan said. “We are planning her first breeze at the end of this month or early July.”
Donna Veloce won the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles by 4 1/4 lengths on March 8 in her only start this year. She was turned out in early April.
The Grade 1 Travers Stakes, traditionally run in late August, has been moved to Aug. 8 and will serve as New York’s last major stepping-stone to the Kentucky Derby, one of a bevy of changes to the 2020 Saratoga stakes schedule released by the New York Racing Association on Friday morning.
