Saratoga
The list of horses that have won the GI Diana S. on multiple occasions reads like a veritable horse racing Hall of Fame: Miss Grillo, Tempted, Shuvee, Glowing Honor and Forever Together have all accomplished the feat. Peter Brant's Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) can ascend to the top of that classy heap as she goes for the three-peat Sunday afternoon at Saratoga, but a fait accompli is most certainly is not. The 2018 champion turf female made best use of her superior turn of foot to easily defeat her stablemate...
What Mike Caruso missed most when his collegiate wrestling career was over was the competition, the fierce desire to win and the nervous excitement that would build up in him before every match. It wasn't just that he was good, it was that he felt he had to win every time. Forty-three years after he last wrestled and wrapped up his third NCAA championship, Caruso has recaptured those feelings, discovering them in horse racing. "I get butterflies in my stomach before every race," he said. "That means it is meaningful....
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Though he has recovered from a leg issue that interrupted his training schedule, two-time Grade I winner Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) looks to be a long shot to compete in the GI Forego S. Aug. 29. Trainer George Weaver said Friday said the 4-year-old colt, co-owned by Randy Hill's R.A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables, was "50-50" to make the seven-furlong Forego. Vekoma has been treated for an abscess in the coronet band of his left front leg and has not had a timed work since his 1...
Golden Pal, still diploma-less despite two runner-up finishes and plenty of hype, put it all together Friday in Saratoga's Skidmore S. A close second at 1-2 odds on the Gulfstream main track Apr. 17, the son of turf sprinting phenom Lady Shipman was just tagged late after showing the way in Royal Ascot's G2 Norfolk S. June 19. He and stablemate Fauci (Malibu Moon) appeared to have this compact field at their mercy, and the public got it right in installing Golden Pal as the 2-5 chalk. Blasting out of...
Racing fans now have the opportunity to win new Saratoga hospitality experiences and memorabilia with the addition of a series of items to the NYRA Cares charitable program, which supports local non-profit organizations. Featured new items include a table for four in the Turf Terrace on GI Whitney Day for the 2021 meet and seating for four next summer at The Rail at the 1863 Club on GI Alabama Day. Also included is a Saratoga Springs Monopoly game signed by Barclay Tagg and Saratoga banners which are featured on Broadway....
Saratoga's first post time Friday has been pushed back to 2:10 p.m. ET due to an ongoing technical issue with AmTote, the New York Racing Association's tote system provider. Friday's card, which was slated to begin at 1:10 p.m., includes the Skidmore S., a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 2-year-olds which will be run as the third race.
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency HALF TO LEA DEBUTS AT THE SPA 1st-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:10 p.m. Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider homebred FOLIAGE (Speightstown), a half-brother to Grade I winner Lea (First Samurai), makes his career bow in this spot for Al Stall. In addition to his top-level victory on the dirt, Lea was GISP on turf and earned over $2.35-million before retiring to Claiborne's stud barn. Their MSP dam Greenery (Galileo {Ire}) is also the dam of SW Acre (Blame) and GSP Heath (Pulpit)....
Champion Uni (More Than Ready) and MGISW Got Stormy (Get Stormy) continue their rivalry Saturday as they look to continue dominating their male counterparts in Saratoga's GI Fourstardave H. The two chestnuts met for the first time in last year's renewal of this event, in which Got Stormy was a 2 1/2-length victress over the re-opposing Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) with Uni in third. After that Got Stormy went to the GI Woodbine Mile, hoping to follow in the famous hoofprints of fellow Mark Casse trainee Tepin (Bernstein),...
Tobys Heart justified the 'TDN Rising Star' moniker she earned in her debut with a victory in Saratoga's Bolton Landing S., becoming the first black-type winner for her second-crop sire (by War Front). Overcoming a troubled trip to graduate by 6 3/4 lengths in her Churchill Downs unveiling June 4, she was heavily favored at 1-2 for this step up in class. Running off the fence, the bay bided her time back in sixth as Joy's Rocket zipped through a :22.21 zipped through an opening quarter. Swinging out four wide...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--When it comes to the "what-if" questions, Blue Heaven Farm's 7-year-old champion mare Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind), who is headed to the GI Diana S. Sunday, is in a league of her own. There are so many possibilities for the Florida-bred, who has won eight graded stakes, including the 2019 GI E.P. Taylor on her home track at Woodbine. For example: - What if trainer Kevin Attard and his partner Soli Mehta had not won the three-way shake when they claimed the then-undistinguished 4-year-old for $16,000 in February...
What a name, for a mare salvaging her sire from extinction: Unicorn Girl. Certainly the faint footprint of A. P. Five Hundred on the North American breed would otherwise, by now, have been thoroughly effaced. His eligibility to compete with other sons of A.P. Indy at stud was marginal in the first place, third place in the GII Super Derby being as good as it got in a light career. And, really, he never got off the grid. After a single spring trying his luck in Florida, in 2004, he...
Godolphin homebred Antoinette (Hard Spun) made all the running in Sunday's $500,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational S. to more than double her bankroll with a half-length victory over Stunning Sky (Declaration of War). A second-out winner on the Belmont grass last October, the Bill Mott pupil took Aqueduct's rained-off Tepin S. in December. That effort likely had her connections thinking GI Kentucky Oaks, and she resurfaced to be third in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks Mar. 21 behind Saturday's GI Alabama S. runner-up Bonny South (Munnings). Third again when favored in...