Saratoga Race Course

Casse Continues To Have Success With His 2-Year-Olds As La Cara Gets To Winner's Circle

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--The baby train continues to chug along for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse at Saratoga Race Course this summer. The latest stop came Sunday and 2-year-old filly La Cara (Street Sense) hopped on board as she pulverized the field in the eighth race maiden special weight. Ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., La Cara went to the lead at the start of the seven-furlong race and stayed there. She won by eight lengths, and it could have been more as Santana Jr. brought her home with a hand...

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Sunday Insights: Well-Bred Troop Of Juvenile Fillies Debut At The Spa

6th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 3:53 p.m. ET. Lining up for another competitive maiden special weight at Saratoga, several 2-year-old fillies will be making the first start of their careers. TRADING STRATEGY (Quality Road) was purchased for $500,000 by Klaravich Stables during last year's Keeneland September Sale. The Chad Brown trainee is out of Dothraki Sea (Union Rags), herself a 2020 $560,000 Keeneland November buy for Band of Brothers while GSP Mc Vay (Constitution)--a $1.25 million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale grad--was in-utero. This dam is a half-sister to GISW...

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Saturday's Racing Insights: Tapit's Nantz Welcomes Juvenile Debut At Saratoga

1st-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:35 p.m. ET. Debuting upstate is 2-year-old NANTZ (Tapit)--a $600,000 purchase during last year's Keeneland September Sale. Owned by partners Repole Stable, Spendthrift Farm, Big Easy Racing, Titletown Racing, Rick Kanter, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson, the Todd Pletcher trainee is the first foal for MSW Divine Queen (Divine Park). She's out of SW Town Queen (Williamstown), who also produced SW Queen's Award (Medaglia d'Oro) and the dam of MGSW The Player (Street Hero). Also set for his unveiling is Aviator Gui (Uncle...

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Tropical Storm Debby Forces Cancelation of Saratoga's Friday Card; Fourstardave and Saratoga Derby Moved to Sunday

The 10-race card scheduled for Friday, Aug. 9 at Saratoga Race Course has been canceled due to heavy rainfall and high winds associated with Tropical Storm Debby forecast to impact Saratoga and the greater Capital Region overnight and throughout the day on Friday, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced Thursday evening. Friday's featured $125,000 Evan Shipman and $125,000 Union Avenue will be rescheduled. Saratoga Race Course will be closed to the public on Friday. Live racing is slated to resume Saturday at Saratoga with first post at 12:35...

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Adaptable And One More Time Scores At Mushy Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Though the mission was to run her on grass, And One More Time (Omaha Beach) clearly relished the muddy sealed track she won over Thursday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course. The eight 2-year-old fillies were on their way to the paddock with light rain falling when New York Racing Association officials moved the 5 1/2 furlong maiden special weight contest to the main track. The switch did not bother the Live Oak Plantation filly, who stalked the early pace and scooted away to a 4 3/4 lengths victory...

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Karl And Cathi Glassman Joins TDN Writers' Room Podcast

Owners Karl and Cathi Glassman, this week's Green Group Guests of the Week on the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland, bought their first horse in 2015 and initially didn't have much to show for it. But they understood patience and that good fortune would eventually come their way. Did it ever. The Glassmans have their first star, the GI Whitney winner Arthur's Ride (Tapit). Making his stakes debut at age 4, he was a 2 1/4-length winner on a rainy day in Saratoga. The win gave Bill Mott his...

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Brian Hernandez Jr. Wins 2024 Mike Venezia Memorial Award

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was selected as the 2024 Mike Venezia Memorial Award recipient, the New York Racing Association said in a press release on Wednesday. The Louisiana native was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of The Jockeys' Guild and retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore. Hernandez Jr. will be recognized at Saratoga Race Course on Friday, Aug. 23. The Mike Venezia Memorial Award is presented annually to a jockey who displays the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as...

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If Saturday's Saratoga Derby and Fourstardave Are Off The Turf, Races Will Move To Sunday Says NYRA

With heavy rain associated with Tropical Storm Debby forecast to impact Saratoga Springs on Friday and Saturday, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will add the GI FanDuel Fourstardave Handicap and GI Saratoga Derby Invitational as contingency races for Sunday, Aug. 11, the track said in a Wednesday press release. Should weather force races off the turf on Saturday, Aug. 10, then NYRA will aim to run the Fourstardave and Saratoga Derby as the final two races on Sunday, Aug. 11. To allow for increased flexibility, those races will...

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Breeding Digest: Overcoming the Dirt Complex

There can't be many tracks that that deviate further from the standard American model than Goodwood. Even in Britain nobody today would dream of laying out a racecourse along a twisting ridge of downland, and we remain duly indebted to the militia officers who first eked out a little sport here 223 years ago. Not that the horses themselves share our appreciation for a gorgeous panorama of cornfields and woodland, focused as they are on keeping their balance over the swaying terrain and round sharp right-hand bends. Yet last week...

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A Royal Procession For The Queens M G In Adirondack Victory

Safe to say you won't be seeing long odds on The Queens M G (Thousand Words) any more. Off her shocking win at odds of 44-1 in the Schuylerville Stakes July 11, the Saffie Joseph, Jr. runner took serious money Sunday and rewarded her backers again at 5-2 with an impressive victory in the GIII Adirondack Stakes to become her freshman sire's (by Pioneerof the Nile) first graded winner. An unlikely debut winner at Keeneland Apr. 7, The Queens M G outlasted next out Kentucky Juvenile Fillies Stakes winner West...

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Next Collects Another Distance Dirt Prize In Birdstone At The Spa

In a stylish defense of his title--though the word feels underwhelming to describe the ease--Next (Not This Time) did what Next does best in the Birdstone Stakes: turning a marathon into a runaway. Racing on appointment only the last couple of seasons, his smallest margin of victory came in his first appearance in the GII Brooklyn Stakes last year, where he defeated SW & MGSP Calibrate (Distorted Humor) by 2 1/4 lengths. His largest came when he wrapped 2023 a 25-length winner in Parx's Sept. 23 GIII Greenwood Cup, but...

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Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: One-Eyed White Sands, Favored In Adirondack, Won't Run

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--There is a good reason why White Sands (Into Mischief), the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Sunday's $200,000, GIII Adirondack for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course, isn't going to run. She's not here. Trainer Wesley Ward said Saturday morning on the Saratoga backstretch that White Sands is at Keeneland and likely waiting for one of two races at Del Mar next weekend: the $150,000 GIII Sorrento for 2-year-old fillies on Aug. 10 or the $150,000 GIII Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds on Aug. 11. White Sands, owned by...

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