SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Structor, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner of 2019, was injured in a workout June 20 and won’t race this year, trainer Chad Brown said.
“He got hurt, he needs more time off,” Brown said, not offering any details.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With 13 victories here the last two summers, trainer Robertino Diodoro is looking to build on his Saratoga success with a 20-horse string here this meet.
While Diodoro is known as having a far-flung claiming operation – he also is based in Kentucky and at Lone Star, Evangeline, and Canterbury – he has several young horses this meet that he hopes can elevate his stable. He is coming off being the leading trainer at the Oaklawn Park meet.
Thursday at 8:45 a.m., jockey Abel Cedillo was at home near Del Mar, a place he did not expect to be on a weekday morning early in the summer race meeting.
Instead of working horses at the track, Cedillo was in the early days of a quarantine period, having tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday. Cedillo was one of 15 Del Mar-based riders to test positive, the track announced on Wednesday. San Diego County health officials said in a statement released by the track that the affected riders, who were not all named, will be in quarantine for 10 days.
Steve Byk, whose daily “At The Races With Steve Byk” radio show has aired on Sirius XM Satellite radio since 2007, on Wednesday was named by Monmouth Park as the Bill Handleman Memorial Award winner for outstanding coverage of the 2019 Haskell Invitational.
The annual award is named in honor of one of New Jersey’s top sportswriters for nearly three decades for the Asbury Park Press. Handleman died in June 2010 at age 62.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Owners of horses racing at New York tracks will be able to attend the races on days when they have a horse running and will have access to the backstretch to watch their horses train in the morning, according to the New York State Gaming Commission, which posted the information on its website Wednesday afternoon, the day before the opening of Saratoga’s 40-day Thoroughbred meet.
Fans still will not be permitted to attend the races or morning training.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Over the last three Saratoga meets, trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Correas has two wins and three seconds from 10 starts, including a victory by Blue Prize in last year’s Summer Colony Stakes. Blue Prize went on to win the Spinster and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Correas, who is based in Kentucky, is back in Saratoga with two horses for Friday’s card and has two more for later in the meet, including the exciting 2-year-old Therideofalifetime.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Decorated Invader is expected to face just four rivals in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
Christophe Clement, who trains Decorated Invader, also entered Gufo, who on July 4 won the Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park. While Clement said “you should never be blasé about winning Grade 2 races” he also said he is likely to hold Gufo out for the Saratoga Derby on Aug. 15. However, Gufo was supplemented for a fee of $2,250.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While trainer Bob Baffert will give Gamine more time to recover from her ultra-impressive victory in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park last month, he will seek another major Grade 1 victory for 3-year-old fillies when he sends out Crystal Ball in Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
Crystal Ball, a daughter of Malibu Moon, finished third in her debut going a mile in May at Santa Anita and then came back to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by 6 1/4 lengths on June 14, racing on the lead throughout.
Monmouth Park in New Jersey is making two additional blocs of tickets available for Saturday’s Haskell Stakes, with the tickets set to go on sale online at the track’s website at 6 p.m. Eastern Wednesday.
The track plans to sell 500 general-admission tickets that will provide access to the track’s picnic area, after selling 500 general-admission tickets online last week. The general-admission tickets will cost $100 each and provide a ticket-holder with admission, a hat, a program, and parking.
Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., will close off its jockey colony to outside riders beginning with Wednesday’s card, the track announced Wednesday, and will consolidate its Quarter Horse racing schedule to three live racing dates, under measures it has adopted to mitigate the risk of coronavirus spreading at the track.
