SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was selected the winner of the Mike Venezia Award, which honors the rider who displays the exemplary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died from injuries suffered in a spill at Belmont Park in 1988.
Ortiz, 33, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of The Jockeys’ Guild, and retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The highly touted 2-year-old Schwarzenegger’s debut continues to be put on hold.
Already scratched a couple of times, he was entered in two spots this week but won’t run in either one. On Thursday, he scratched out of a maiden race when a midday rainstorm prompted New York Racing Association officials to move the final four scheduled turf races to the dirt, including a 5 1/2-furlong maiden turf sprint in which Schwarzenegger was entered.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – They are not coming with visions of beating Sovereignty, but hey, at least they’re coming.
The connections of McAfee and Bracket Buster said Friday that they are planning to enter their horses Sunday for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 23, where Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty looms a heavy favorite. Magnitude, the Risen Star and Iowa Derby winner, and Strategic Focus, third in the Curlin Stakes, are the other confirmed runners for what figures to be a five-horse field.
Emerald Downs has canceled Friday night's entire seven-race card, citing a forecast that calls for up to an inch of rain beginning late Thursday.
“We are expecting very heavy rain Friday, and safety comes first,” track president Phil Ziegler said in a release. “Fortunately, Saturday and Sunday look great with temperature in the 70s.”
Midnight Mammoth, claimed for $50,000 in 2023 and a graded stakes winner last year, will race next in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 30.
Midnight Mammoth, trained by Craig Dollase for Jeffrey Sengara, was second at 12-1 behind Skippylongstocking in the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 26 in his last start. A 6-year-old gelding, Midnight Mammoth was scratched from the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on July 26.
“The way the race was setting up, we decided by bypass and come into this with a fresh horse,” Dollase said.
Frank Garcia, a longtime fixture at Santa Anita as a stable gate attendant, died recently after an extended illness. Garcia was 58.
Anyone who drove past the horsemen’s entrance to the east side of the stable area, or to a nearby valet parking lot frequented by horse owners and trainers, likely encountered Garcia in recent decades.
Based at that highly-traveled location of the racetrack property, Garcia warmly greeted people from all aspects of racing, from backstretch and track employees, front office executives as well as owners, trainers and jockeys.
Straight No Chaser, the 2024 champion sprinter, continues to progress toward his first American start of the year at Santa Anita next month after working five furlongs in 1:01 at Del Mar on Thursday.
Straight No Chaser won the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia in February, but was eighth of 11 in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint in Dubai on April 6 in his last start. Owned by the My Racehorse syndicate and trained by Dan Blacker, Straight No Chaser is scheduled to start in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs on Sept. 28.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – White Abarrio, fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 2, returned to the work tab Thursday morning at Saratoga, going a half-mile in 47.16 seconds under Irad Ortiz Jr. Going in company with Alexander Helios, winner of the Grade 3 Razorback at Oaklawn during the winter, White Abarrio went his first quarter-mile in 23.27 seconds and his second in 23.89 while pulling away from his workmate.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ways and Means, who likely would have been favored in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23, will be forced to miss that race after developing a fever, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.
“Temperature, treating her, and just bad timing,” explained Brown, who was forced to miss a workout last weekend with Ways and Means.
