Charles Town

After entering stable star Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in both Friday's Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town and Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., trainer Derek Ryan confirmed Wednesday that his New Jersey-bred gelding will go in the Saratoga race. Both races are restricted to three-year-olds, have purses of $500,000 and will be run at the distance of seven furlongs. "We're going to Saratoga," Ryan said from his base at Monmouth Park. "He got a good post (post 8). At Charles Town, he got a bad post (post 2) and...

On Nov. 9 last year, veteran trainer Steve Klesaris shipped his mare She's Awesome from Delaware Park to Aqueduct to compete in the second race. When she arrived, the receiving barns were full, and so, She's Awesome (Flatter) was sent instead to the track's auxiliary stabling, used as an overflow. The auxiliary barn is adjacent to staff bathrooms, with a lot of foot traffic through it, said Klesaris. It's also used to stable ponies, he added. She's Awesome won that day. But a post-race test came up positive for the...

The West Virginia-bred filly Direct the Cat (Redirect), who was profiled in TDN earlier this month after winning six straight races by a combined 58 3/4 lengths, had her year-long, huge-margin win streak stopped Saturday night when she ran second at Charles Town in the $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial S. for state-bred 3-year-old fillies. The 1 3/4-length defeat was administered by the 12-1 upsetter and second choice in the wagering, Overnight Pow Wow (Fiber Sonde). The two gray fillies are both owned and trained by Cyndy McKee, who, along with...

What do you get when you breed a mare who is by a sire who never raced because he crashed through a fence to a stallion who also never made it to the races because he, too, tried to run headlong through a fence? If you're Cyndy McKee and her late husband, John McKee, of West Virginia's Beau Ridge Farm, the answer is the 3-year-old filly Direct the Cat, who on July 4 won a seven-furlong, second-level open allowance at Charles Town by 15 1/4 lengths as the 1-to-10 favorite....

Just one week after the Horseracing Welfare and Integrity Unit (HIWU) issued a public disclosure on its website that top Mid-Atlantic trainer Anthony Farrior had a horse test positive for the banned substance Metformin, Farrior's attorney Drew Mollica said that he has been informed by HIWU that the charges have been dropped. "The system worked and we are happy to clear his good name and his reputation," Mollica said. Mollica said HIWU's decision came about after a review of the split sample, which was requested by Mollica and Farrior. Mollica...

Trainer Anthony Farrior is facing a possible suspension after a horse he trained allegedly tested positive for the banned substance Metformin, according to a posting Friday on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit website. His status is listed as "Pending: Provisional Suspension--Postponed." Alexa Ravit, the director of communications & outreach for HIWU explained that the wording means, "that B Sample analysis has been requested following a positive A Sample result, so the implementation of the Provisional Suspension is postponed unless/until the B Sample comes back positive." Farrior will be allowed...

Last year's GI Belmont S. third Skippylongstocking (c, 4, Exagggerator--Twinkling, by War Chant), a three-time graded winner since, added Friday's late-night $1-million GII Charles Town Classic S. to his steadily growing CV. Under Tyler Gaffalione, the 7-5 favorite hustled straight to the front, set fractions of :24.82 and :48.88, and wasn't for catching, drawing clear in the stretch by five lengths. The winner's Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.-trained stablemate O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman), a Group 1 winner in his native Chile, closed from the rear of the field to finish second, while...

Cherie DeVaux trainee Vahva (f, 3, Gun Runner--Holiday Soiree, by Harlan's Holiday) shipped in to Charles Town off a third in Belmont's July 8 GIII Victory Ride S. to capture Friday night's 15th running of the $750,000 GIII Charles Town Oaks, billed as the richest sprint race for sophomore fillies in North America. Off at 7-5, Vahva raced just behind the leaders while 96-1 Late Frost (Frosted) set early fractions of :23.37 and :46.82 as Undervalued Asset (Speightstown) pressured her from the outside. The two pacesetters pulled well clear of...

A compelling Grade I race with year-end title implications and it's not even a Saturday? Such is the magic of Saratoga. Friday's $500,000 GI Personal Ensign S. at nine furlongs has attracted older mare division leaders Nest (Curlin) and Clairiere (Curlin). Both are multiple Grade I winners with stellar records; the two will meet for the third time. Nest, last year's Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly, is the 4-5 choice after besting Clairiere in a bang-up GII Shuvee S. July 23 over track and trip. It was her first start of...

Jockey Carlos Eduardo Lopez, currently third in earnings and fourth in wins at Charles Town Races this year, was fined $1,000 by the track's stewards for losing a win at the wire after his mount was clear by five lengths at the sixteenth pole and he apparently thought he could coast to victory without additional effort. "Jockey Lopez eased his mount, Stylish Paint, coming to the wire in the ninth race on Saturday, Apr. 8, 2023, causing his horse to get beat on the wire," stated the Apr. 14 stewards'...

by Ken Lowe (TDN is re-running this letter to the editor, which originally appeared in Wednesday's newsletter, due to editing errors). There were many empty seats at the table when HISA was invented, that being "Middle America Racing", comprised of almost every jurisdiction between "the moon (California) and New York City (NYJC)." Now, being "blue collar horse folks," we all know it takes three (3) legs for a stool and in this "fixed race" it was Kentucky. Throw kerosene on the flames, when certain trainers were indicted by the Feds...

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton The annual Claiming Crown races were two weeks ago. But a surprise black-type feast for blue-collar campaigners took place over Thanksgiving weekend, when horses once claimed for tags as low as $10,000 and $16,000 ran away with three of five stakes at Laurel Park, and an 8-year-old gelding bought last year for $10,000 topped a blanket-finish trifecta of previously claimed sprinters in the GIII Fall Highweight H. at Aqueduct. The relic known as the Fall Highweight--in which nominees are assigned weights scaled several...