SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Broadway Run won two of her first three career starts, including the Coronation Cup here last July. She has gone winless in five starts since.
On Saturday, Broadway Run will be back at Saratoga for the $200,000 Caress Stakes, which like the Coronation Cup is run at 5 1/2 furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On paper, it looked like a curious move when Jose Ortiz chose to ride Guarana, who had won her only career start, over Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress in the Grade 1 Acorn last month at Belmont Park.
For Ortiz, it was an easy decision. When he heard the two horses would be running in the same race, Ortiz called his agent, Jimmy Riccio Jr., and told him he wanted to stay on Guarana.
Mike and Mickala Sisk are doing some Christmas shopping in July – at Saratoga.
This is the time of year the Sisks start to build up their stable to prepare for the Oaklawn meet, which opens in January. The couple has won the last two owner titles at the Hot Springs, Ark., track and in April set a single-season mark for owner wins at Oaklawn when they broke a 1974 record established by Dan Lasater.
“Remember the Sears Wish Book that would come out at Christmastime?” said Mike Sisk, 50. “Saratoga horses are in our Sears Wish Book. We want to buy as many as we can.”
OCEANPORT, N.J. – A good performance by Maximum Security on Saturday in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park would heat up a 3-year-old division searching for a leader. But regardless of how Gary and Mary West’s son of New Year’s Day performs, things figure to be quite toasty with a heat wave gripping the Northeast.
Monmouth, just a few miles from the Atlantic, likely will fare better than more landlocked areas, with a humid 93 degrees predicted for Saturday in Oceanport.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The Grade 1 winners McKinzie and Paradise Woods worked at Del Mar on Wednesday in advance of important stakes.
McKinzie, a winner of five stakes who was second in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 8, officially worked five furlongs in 59 seconds, though trainer Bob Baffert said the 4-year-old worked six furlongs.
McKinzie is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 3. The winner receives a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bolo, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 27, will not start in Sunday’s Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar and will be pointed for the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 18.
Trainer Carla Gaines said on Wednesday that she would like to limit Bolo’s races in late summer and early fall in advance of the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. Bolo earned a berth in the BC Mile with his win in the Shoemaker Mile.
Shes Our Fastest is back at her Evangeline Downs base after the 4-year-old filly won the fourth stakes of her career Sunday in the $50,000 Valor Farm Stakes at Lone Star Park. The race was for Texas-bred fillies and mares, and Shes Our Fastest was a three-quarter-length winner while covering six furlongs in 1:10.66.
“She ran a big race,” trainer Scott Gelner said. “She had to fight to get the win. She dug in and got it.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Catapult and Sharp Samurai were the top two finishers in the Grade 2 Eddie Read last summer at Del Mar, and they were among those expected to be entered Thursday for this year’s edition, to be held Sunday.
The Eddie Read, a 1 1/8-mile grass race for 3-year-olds and up, is also expected to include Bowies Hero, Majestic Eagle, Marckie’s Water, and Ohio.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The dominating winners of the marquee races at Indiana Grand last Saturday night both returned to Churchill Downs in good order as their connections now ponder whether to run next in a Grade 1 at Saratoga.
Mr. Money, who earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Indiana Derby by 2 1/2 lengths, has the Aug. 24 Travers as a possible next start, while Street Band, a 3 1/2-length winner of the Indiana Oaks with an 87 Beyer, could go next in the Aug. 17 Alabama.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Perennial leader Eurico Da Silva was recently reunited with agent Tom Patton, and the Brazilian native is on target for another Woodbine riding title this year.
Following a car accident in 2017, Patton missed all of last year due to health issues. Early this month, he began booking mounts again for Da Silva, who was represented by Mike Luider during his hiatus. Luider, who recently picked up Luis Contreras, is the long-time agent for Emma-Jayne Wilson.
