Sorrento Stakes

I'm not going to apologise for saying it again: in the old days, before veterinary science released the shackles, quality was locked into stallion books. To reach a top sire, you had to earn the right. In 1962, Hirsch Jacobs requested access to Swaps for Searching, a granddaughter of La Troienne, winner of 25 races, meanwhile in the Hall of Fame. After all, she had got to Swaps for her first cover, two years previously, and there was a nice filly duly entering training named Affectionately. But John Galbreath told...

Bregman Family Racing and Swinbank Stable LLC's Governor Sam (Improbable) is perfect in two previous efforts over Saratoga's Mellon turf course and he'll look to keep that record intact as a warm favorite in Sunday's newly upgraded GIII Mahony Stakes. A maiden winner when making his local debut just over a year ago, the bay rattled off three in a row in stakes company and made the majority of the pace in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint before clinging on gamely for third. Governor Sam dropped his first...

Purchased privately following a maiden win, last year's overachieving Debutante S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Vodka With a Twist (Thousand Words) hit the board in five straight graded stakes races for trainer Phil D'Amato in Southern California beginning with the GIII Sorrento S. at Del Mar. Taylor Made's Medallion Racing will look to follow a similar blueprint with impressive Laurel Park debut winner Dreaming of Alys (Upstart), who will face five rivals, led by the Bob Baffert-trained 'TDN Rising Star' Himika (Curlin), going six furlongs in...

Three 'TDN Rising Star' debutants last weekend followed up in graded stakes to confirm their place among the leading juveniles of the summer. Two were by established big guns Uncle Mo and Curlin. But GIII Sorrento Stakes winner Nooni is by a $5,000 Florida rookie who had already that day celebrated his first black-type winner, by nearly five lengths, in his backyard at Gulfstream. That's some day at the office for Win Win Win, and confirms the contrasts emerging from the early skirmishes in the freshman table. Obviously the cavalries...

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...

It perhaps wasn't the complete tour de force that the wagering public was expecting from their 1-2 shot but 'TDN Rising Star' Nooni (Win Win Win) found a way to get it done Saturday with a win in the GIII Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. The $1.8m OBS March sales topper, dubbed a 'Rising Star' off a 9 1/2-length drubbing of her competition at Santa Anita June 13, had to contend with only three rivals here--including her Bob Baffert-trained stablemate in $775,000 OBS April grad and fellow 'Rising Star' Casalu...

Three Chimneys Farm's Touchy (Nyquist) would go heavily favored in any maiden race at the Spa, but connections continue to campaign the homebred colt boldly as he remains in stakes company for his second career appearance in Saturday's GII Saratoga Special Stakes. The bay colt was bet down to 85 cents on the dollar for his debut in the June 6 Tremont Stakes on the first day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at this venue, and he made the majority of the running before giving way late to be...

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 Saturday at Saratoga, Ellis Park and Del Mar: Saturday, August 10, 2024...

Wesley Ward admitted he was looking for an easy spot for  White Sands (Into Mischief) to make her first racetrack appearance, but when the half-sister to sprint champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) romped by 9 1/2 lengths in her debut at Belterra Park in May, the trainer immediately circled the Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes on his calendar. The filly duly delivered again in that 5 1/2-furlong event, defeating the boys in a 13 3/4-length demolition at Prairie Meadows last Saturday. "We had a long time with her," Ward said of...

Dreamfyre (f, 2, Flameaway--Appreciating, by Sky Mesa) may not have been the GIII Sorrento S. favorite behind 'TDN Rising Star' Benedetta (City of Light) and flashy Baffert/Zedan runner Dua (Arrogate), but she ran like it, controlling the 2-year-old filly contest from pillar to post. In Del Mar's co-feature Saturday, Dreamfyre broke like a shot from the inside post and immediately put daylight on the rest, clicking off early fractions in :21.74 and :45.10. Benedetta and Dua followed with the rest of the field stretched out well behind. Coming off the...

Perhaps no trainer felt the loss of Arlington Park more keenly than Chad Brown, who had dominated the historic track's signature Arlington Million Day card for the past decade, but the multiple Eclipse Award winner will have a pair of runners as he tries to keep the momentum going at the relocated--and truncated--Million card at Churchill Downs Saturday. Currently leading North American trainers with 10 Grade I wins on the year, Brown will be in search of a record-extending fifth victory in the Million when he sends out recent GIII...

Elm Drive took command of the Angels Flight S. and never looked like anything but the winner in an eye-catching 3-year-old bow reminiscent of her early juvenile form. As brilliant as she was on unveiling June 26 at Los Alamitos, where she dominated a five furlong field of maidens by eight easy lengths, and then a head victorious in Del Mar's GII Sorrento S. Aug. 6 over eventual GISW Eda (Munnings), she was as uncharacteristically dull in her prior two starts. Eased to a distant seventh in the GI Del...