Saratoga
6th-Saratoga, $90,000, (S), Msw, 8-14, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.13, fm, 3 lengths. ANNASCAUL (f, 2, American Pharoah--Epping Forest {SP, $306,000}, by Exchange Rate) took play to be off as the 7-4 favorite while making her career debut against fellow New York-breds Wednesday afternoon at Saratoga, and she duly treated them to a three-length beating from the front beneath Frankie Dettori. The beautifully bred chestnut bounced alertly and was soon at the head of affairs, clicking off an opening quarter-mile in :22.04. Taking pressure to her outside from a lugging-out...
6th-SAR, $100k, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, post time: 4:03 p.m. ET Klaravich Stable paid $410,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale for COMPETITIVE MARKET, whose pedigree reads all dirt, being a daughter of Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Authentic out of Cajun Delta Dawn (Kantharos), who took two-thirds of the Florida Stallion Stakes in 2016 and was runner-up in that year's GIII Delta Downs Princess Stakes. The main-track form runs through the entire family, as Cajun Delta Dawn is a half-sister to SW Mom'z Laugh...
Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting and stakes-entered 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. Here are the horses entered for Thursday at Saratoga: Thursday, August 15, 2024 Saratoga 1, $90k, 2yo, (S),...
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas expressed his desire on Sunday to run GI Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey (Arrogate) in the Aug. 24 GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Tim Wilkin covered Lukas's perspective extensively in Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets. On Tuesday, according to Daily Racing Form's David Grening, Lukas confirmed Seize the Grey will instead be pointed to the Sept. 21 GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx. Although he trains at Saratoga, the 3-year-old colt has finished off the board in his two starts...
The Week In Review by Bill Finley We are in the middle of the Saratoga and Del Mar meets, both of which bring together the best horses the sport has to offer. That was the case last weekend. The quality is there. The quantity? Not so much. There's an alarming trend in racing and it's only getting worse. The 10- or 12-horse field for a stakes race, especially on the dirt, is a thing of the past, no matter the venue, no matter the size of the purse. Even a...
Mark Casse has had plenty of good horses in his career. His favorite is not all that surprising. He has had an audience with one of the most iconic people the world has ever seen. He is one of a select few to have been elected into Racing Hall of Fames in the U.S. and Canada. What does he do when he has a little down time? What's the deal with Tom Cruise? Read more in this week's Saratoga Conversation to find out. TDN: Correct me if I am wrong,...
In a story reminiscent of 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin), Carson's Run (c, 3, Cupid--Hot N Hectic, by Henny Hughes) found a sequel to his own fairy tale Sunday, detailed last year here and here. The West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey runner, a winner June 23 of the Tale of the Cat Stakes at Monmouth Park, doubled up on his juvenile form, adding the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes Sunday to his GI Summer Stakes victory last year at Woodbine. He crossed the Saratoga wire Sunday...
It was worth the wait. After twice being rescheduled and finally run eight days late due to rain, the GI FanDuel Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga stayed on the lawn and featured a breakout performance by 'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (c, 4, Lope de Vega {Ire})--Zindaya, by More Than Ready), who was taking the first Grade I event of his career after winning three other graded races, all at Saratoga. As a 'Win and You're In' race for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, the Fourstardave gives Carl Spackler a fees-paid...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- If it was up to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, Seize the Grey (Arrogate) would be running in the $1.25-million, GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 24. On Sunday morning, all Lukas could do was shrug his shoulders when asked if the GI Preakness Stakes winner would be taking a place in the Travers starting gate. "I don't know," he said at his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "I am going to vote to run him in it." Lukas, though,...
Fandom showed talent right from the start-winning by 6 3/4 lengths at Keeneland for Wesley Ward as a 2-year-old. A trip to Royal Ascot followed in the G2 Coventry Stakes but he weakened to 11th and went to the sidelines for nearly a year before coming off the bench back at Keeneland to take the Palisades Stakes Apr. 7. A barn change to Brad Cox after that start saw Fandom hit the board in the GIII Quick Call Stakes over course and distance July 14 and earned the son of...
GI Blue Grass Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) returned to the work tab Sunday morning for trainer Chad Brown ahead of an expected next start in the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes Aug. 24. The $2.3m FTSAUG grad, last seen second to another 'Rising Star' and champion in Fierceness (City of Light) in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes July 27, covered a solo half mile in :49 flat over the Oklahoma training track. "He worked super," said Brown. "He's come out of his last race well...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Tenacious Leader (Not This Time) served up a sample of his grit Saturday in what turned into a decisive maiden special weight victory at Saratoga Race Course. The Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable colt turned in a textbook performance under leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. and finished 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Clock Tower (Not This Time) in the $100,000 one-mile race on the main track. Race 7 on the program was originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course, but the New...