Saratoga

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at both 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 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. To follow are the entries for Thursday at Saratoga, including previously raced horses in the GIII With Anticipation S.:...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at both 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 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. To follow are the entries for Wednesday at Saratoga, including previously raced horses in the P.G. Johnson S.: Wednesday,...

Mark Casse may have made more starts over dirt and synthetic surfaces combined than any other trainer in history-over 5,000 starts on synthetic and 5,000 on dirt in the past 15 years alone. He estimates that he has sent horses out to gallop, breeze, or race over a synthetic surface 150,000 times in the past 10 years.  With a base at Woodbine, where they race and train over a Tapeta surface which sports one of the lowest instances of catastrophic injuries in North America, Casse offered to sit down with...

Unbeaten and already a stakes winner in his first two starts, The Wine Steward kept his perfect record intact with a gutsy performance in Sunday's Funny Cide S. at Saratoga. Back facing New York-breds for the first time since his six-length debut win at Belmont May 28, the even-money favorite had to overcome a wide draw and a bumpy beginning. Caught outside throughout, he turned for home four abreast, set his sights on pacesetter El Grande O, and dug in to just get past that rival in the final jumps....

1st-Saratoga, $88,000, (S), Msw, 8-27, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f (off turf), 1:05.71, ft, 7 3/4 lengths. SOLOSHOT (f, 2, Solomini--Sweet Queen {MSP}, by Twirling Candy) breezed in :10.1 and brought a final bid of $290,000 at this year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale. A main-track only entry who drew in as the race came off the turf, the 5-2 favorite led every step of the running, showing the way through early fractions of :22.95 and :46.64. Set down at the top of the stretch, she extended her margin at...

After the on-track deaths of two racehorses on its Saturday card prompted a series of meetings with interested parties, the racing card will continue as scheduled Sunday at Saratoga as planned, according to a release from NYRA's Vice President of Communications, Patrick McKenna. "Sunday's live racing program will proceed as scheduled following a series of productive meetings held with horsemen, jockeys, and veterinarians last night and throughout the morning," read an emailed statement. "Based on these conversations and ensuing dialogue, NYRA is confident in the safety and overall consistency of...

In many ways, it was a 'good' problem to have. Having added a maiden success in the GI Kentucky Derby to his Hall of Fame resume at long last aboard Mage (Good Magic) in early May, jockey Javier Castellano continued a magical ride when teaming with Jena Antonucci to make history in the GI Belmont S. on the progressive Arcangelo (Arrogate), as the connections of Mage turned their collective attention to the second half of the season. Mage resumed with a very good runner-up effort when reportedly not fully fit...

A return to the state of New York proved just the right tonic for Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who snapped a nine-race skid in winning Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer S., getting his picture taken for the first time since the 2021 GI Belmont Derby some 25 months ago.  Soldier Rising (GB) (Frankel {GB}) rallied belatedly for second ahead of longshot Pioneering Spirit (American Pharoah) in third. It was more or less a straight line out of the gates before Channel Maker (English...

L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), second to Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) when that one solidified her champion female sprinter honors in last year's GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint, asserted her position atop that division this year with a convincing tally over that same rival in Saturday's GI Ballerina H. at Saratoga. She was also the second Grade I winner for her connections sired by Gun Runner on the card. An Eclipse winner herself in 2021 with a perfect four-for-four 2-year-old season that included romping victories...

The sensationally fast New York Thunder (Nyquist) was well on his way to a fifth victory from as many starts in Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens S. at Saratoga, but fell when well clear at the sixteenth pole and suffered a life-ending injury in scenes eerily reminiscent of those three weeks ago when Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) catastrophically broke down just before the wire of the GI Test S. One in Vermillion (Army Mule) found his best stride in the stretch and inherited the victory at odds of 19-1....

Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred Gunite (Gun Runner), winner of the track-and-trip GI Hopeful S. as a juvenile and runner-up in the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. 12 months ago, parlayed a tactical advantage Saturday into a vengeful victory in Saratoga's GI Forego S. The Steve Asmussen pupil had come up a head short of 2022 champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. going a furlong shorter in the slop here July 29, and was 6-5 to get the better of that formidable foe this go around....

On a day that was supposed to be a celebration of the Grade I Travers S., a pall was cast over Saturday's card at Saratoga when two horses broke down on the card and had to be euthanized. Including racing and training, they were the seventh and eighth equine deaths during racing at the meeting. Four horses have died during training. One Saturday fatality was on the turf, the other on the dirt. Both horses were ridden by Tyler Gaffalione. Travers Day continued a very difficult stretch for horse racing,...