DEL MAR, Calif. - Point Given, who dazzled race fans from coast to coast, won two classic races, and emerged as the leading candidate for Horse of the Year, has been retired because of a strain in a tendon in his left front leg, it was disclosed Friday morning.
The announcement was made by the colt's trainer, Bob Baffert, and Richard Mulhall, who is the president and racing manager for Prince Ahmed Salman's The Thoroughbred Corporation, which owns and bred Point Given.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's $109,400 Seaway Stakes at Woodbine features an intriguing matchup between the unbeaten 3-year-old Meadow Gem and Kinghaven Farm's talented 4-year-old Torrid Affair.
But the seven-furlong dash for fillies and mares shapes up as a poor betting race, because Meadow Gem, Torrid Affair, and Ahead by a Century are coupled in what will be a short-priced entry. Kinghaven owns a small percentage of Meadow Gem, who is trained by Bob Tiller, who also trains of Ahead by a Century.
The stunning announcement Friday of the retirement of Point Given brought mixed emotions from two trainers whose horses may stand to benefit greatly from his absence.
Joe Orseno and Ronny Werner, whose charges Macho Uno and Touch Tone square off in Monday's $500,000 Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park, were saddened to hear the news even though it may help their horses down the road.
DEL MAR, Calif. - With little warning, El Corredor has emerged as the top older horse in Bob Baffert's barn. The sudden retirement of Point Given and the form decline of Captain Steve have thrust 4-year-old El Corredor into a role of greater prominence, less than two months before the Breeders' Cup.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While Proud Man is certainly the most accomplished of the nine
3-year-olds entered in Sunday's $100,000 Saranac Handicap at Saratoga, he may also be at his most vulnerable in the Grade 3 race, which is run at 1 3/16 miles on turf.
Proud Man, a winner of four Grade 3 stakes this year, has not been out in 11 weeks, has yet to race beyond nine furlongs and, as the 122-pound highweight, must concede four to 10 pounds to the field.
Those factors give hope to his rival trainers, including Mark Hennig, who sends out Strategic Partner.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Trainer Red Smith finds himself faced with a problem on how to fill in the time for his brilliant Fancy As between the Canadian Derby of Aug. 25 and the B.C. Derby on Sept. 29.
That's a span of five weeks, and there obviously is a need to keep Fancy As sharp for the next big race.
Tentatively, Smith has nominated Fancy As for this Saturday's $100,000 Speed to Spare Championship at Northlands Park.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A full field of 11 sophomores, all searching for their first win in an added-money event, will square off in Sunday's $35,000 Richmond Derby Trial at Hastings Park. The first few finishers are likely to make their next start in the $200,000 B.C. Derby on Sept. 29.
Kat Dancer has never won beyond 6 1/2 furlongs, but he could be favored in the 1 1/16-mile Derby Trial off his second-place finish to I'm Free in the Mr. Prime Minister Stakes Aug. 19.
AUBURN, Wash. - Canadian star Lasting Code will take on nine local 2-year-old fillies in Sunday's renewal of the one-mile Barbara Shinpoch Stakes at Emerald Downs.
The Barbara Shinpoch, which was formerly known as the WTBA Lassies, was renamed this year to honor the former chair of the Washington Horse Racing Commission, whose steadfast support through the mid-1990's helped make Emerald Downs a reality.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The Del Mar stakes schedule is not a perfect fit for Top of Our Game, who is making her third start of the meeting in Sunday's $125,000 Solana Beach Handicap. But the long-term plans of Top of Our Game's rival may work to her advantage.
ALBANY, Calif. - Jockey Dilip Amarsingh will be sidelined for one to two months as a result of a spill following a morning workout at Golden Gate Fields on Thursday morning.
Amarsingh, who has won 16 races from 176 mounts this year, had just finished working the 3-year-old maiden Bastian Lane, when the horse fractured a sesamoid while pulling up, falling and throwing the rider to the ground.
Amarsingh sustained a broken collarbone and a fractured vertebrae. Bill Delia, who trained Bastian Lane, said the horse was euthanized.