Saratoga
The American Graded Stakes Committee has ruled that the Aug. 27 Smart N Fancy S. at Saratoga and Monmouth Park's GIII Eatontown S., contested Aug. 29, will remain downgraded for 2020 after both events were taken off the turf and moved to the main tracks last week. The Smart N Fancy was automatically downgraded to a non-listed black-type, while the Eatontown became a listed race after its removal from the turf. All races that are originally scheduled for the turf but subsequently moved to the dirt are automatically downgraded, however,...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY SPEIGHTSTOWN DEBUTS AT THE SPA 3rd-SAR, $72K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:49 p.m. China Horse Club and WinStar's NASHVILLE (Speightstown) makes his career bow in this five-horse affair. The $460,000 KEESEP purchase hails from the family of GI Kentucky Derby upsetter Giacomo (Holy Bull); MGISW Tiago (Pleasant Tap); and GSW & MGISP Stanwyck (Empire Maker). TJCIS PPs
5th-Saratoga, $72,000, Msw, 8-30, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f (off turf), 1:04.07, ft. RED GHOST (f, 2, Ghostzapper--Better Than Most, by Elusive Quality) took all the tote attention at 6-5 in this off the turfer, and soon showed why. Breaking on top in typical Wesley Ward trainee fashion, she doled out splits of 21.70 and :45.08 and never looked back as she ran up the score to 8 1/2 lengths in the lane. Fort Drum (Declaration of War), a $5,500 yearling who drew in off the also-eligible list, belied 68-1 odds...
Channel Maker (English Channel) is now a Grade I winner at ages four, five and six after wiring the GI Sword Dancer S. over a soggy Saratoga turf course Saturday. The victory also earned him a spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland in November. Gliding up to dictate terms, the 8-1 shot was under a tight hold by Manny Franco through measured splits of :25.10, :51.14, 1:17.27 and 1:42. with Marzo (Medaglia d'Oro) on his tail. That rival called it quits on the...
Win Win Win (Hat Trick {Jpn}) did just that in Saturday's GI Forego S., coming from out of the clouds as yet another round of rain poured down over the Saratoga main track to secure his first top-level success. A step slow from the stalls, the Live Oak homebred was not even in the picture early, trailing the field by several lengths as Complexity (Maclean's Music) and True Timber (Mineshaft) duked it out through an opening quarter in :22.28 and a half in :44.63. Rushing up into the frame approaching...
Yaupon took his record to a perfect three-for-three and became the second graded winner of the day for Uncle Mo with a victory in the GII Amsterdam S. Hustled up to the front by Joel Rosario, the dark bay clicked off an opening quarter in :21.93 with Long Weekend giving chase in second. Registering a half-mile in :44.68 with a host of pursuers ranging up menacingly, Yaupon kept on finding over the sloppy going, pulling clear in the lane for a decisive score. "He's extremely fast. He's got an elite...
Sent off right at his morning line of 6-1, Jeff Drown and Don Rachel's FOUNDER (c, 2, Upstart--Blue Beryl, by Bernstein) looked to have it all to do at the midpoint of his career debut Saturday at Saratoga, but he caught the eye with a rail run into the stretch, came out at the eighth pole, raced as green as the boggy grass and improbably ran down his better-backed stablemate Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) to open his account at first asking. The highly regarded two favorites, Newbomb (Speightstown) and Happymac...
Bye Bye Melvin took to the rain-soaked turf well at Saturday Saturday, upsetting the GIII Saranac S. at 19-1. Stalking from a joint second through a glacial opening quarter in :27.17, the bay sat back a bit in third, letting Embolden (The Factor) move up to contest the pace with leader Don Juan Kitten through a half in :51.54. Under a ride approaching the far turn, Bye Bye Melvin was churning up sod as he brushed with his neighbor Bodecream (Bodemeister) at the top of the lane, but found his...
Likely GI Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law (Constitution) topped a list of sophomores putting in their final breezes ahead of the Run for the Roses/Lilies Saturday, covering five panels in :59.21 (1/3) on the Saratoga main track. The native New Yorker was one of the first on the track at 5:45 a.m. in an attempt to beat the incoming rainstorm. With regular breeze rider Heather Smullen in the irons, the flashy bay covered his first three furlongs in :36.01 and galloped out in 1:12.01. "Everything went fine. He came...
With just seven days remaining until the coronavirus-delayed GI Kentucky Derby, the race's likely second favorite Art Collector (Bernardini) topped a busy Friday morning worktab at Churchill Downs. News also emerged from Saratoga that 'TDN Rising Star' Caracaro (Uncle Mo) would be forced to miss the 'Run for the Roses' after suffering an undetermined injury in a breeze Friday morning. With gameday jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. in the irons, Bruce Lunsford homebred Art Collector (second in the TDN Kentucky Derby Top 12) went five-eighths of a mile in a 1:00.80...
For the considerable success he's achieved on the New York circuit and particularly on the turf, it wasn't until 2015 that trainer Chad Brown unsaddled the winner of the GIII Lake George S. for the first time (Mrs McDougal {Medaglia d'Oro}). The stable's lone chance in Friday's renewal, Selflessly (More Than Ready), was pegged as a 6-1 chance on David Aragona's morning line, but the tote read a remarkable 14-1 at post time and those who ignored her paid dearly, as the Maryland-bred was up in the final jump to...
SPOTLIGHT ON RUNHAPPY BABY IN LOADED SARATOGA MAIDEN 6th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:57 p.m. ET HAPPYMAC (Runhappy), an $800,000 RNA at the OBS June Sale (:20 3/5), looks like the one to beat in this extremely deep baby race at the Spa. The half-brother to runaway GII Amsterdam S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) fired a five-furlong bullet from the gate in :59 2/5 (1/12) at Saratoga Aug. 17. Happymac, drawn widest of all in post 10 for the Heiligbrodts and Hall of Famer...