Though he couldn’t conquer Royal Ascot this year, trainer Wesley Ward now turns his attention to Saratoga, where he will be represented in both of Thursday’s opening-day stakes on the 10-race card.
Ward will send out debut winner Aurelia Garland in the Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies and the 3-year-old filly Abyssinian against the boys in the Grade 3, $100,000 Quick Call Stakes, scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
Trainer Kevin Patterson’s amazing win streak continued Friday night at Charles Town when C. D. Jammin won the third race.
Patterson has now won with 14 consecutive starters dating back to May 31. All of the wins during his streak have come at either Charles Town or Mountaineer Park.
C.D. Jammin’s victory equaled the late Frank Passero’s 14 straight wins at Gulfstream Park in 1996. Patterson will aim for his 15th winner in the seventh race Saturday night at Charles Town with Flashy Dragon Girl.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The former jockey and current television analyst Richard Migliore will begin working as an agent for jockey Chris Landeros at the upcoming Saratoga meet. It will be Migliore’s first foray into being an agent.
Migliore said he rode with Landeros in California after Landeros lost his apprentice status.
“I always likes him as a rider and I thought he was a very good person,” Migliore said.
Migliore’s brother, Michael, is the agent for jockey Dylan Davis.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Before Jimmy Jerkens sent out a bevy of older horses in stakes over closing weekend at Belmont, he unleashed a good-looking 2-year-old colt on Thursday in Green Light Go, who sped off to a 3 1/4-length victory in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race. Under Junior Alvarado, Green Light Go covered the distance in 1:03.75 seconds and earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After winning the Tremont with Fore Left last month at Belmont Park. trainer Doug O’Neill will set his sights on the opening week stakes for 2-year-olds at Saratoga.
O’Neill is expected to run the fillies Comical and Shippy in Thursday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes, the co-feature on Saratoga’s opening-day card. O’Neill is also expected to run Raging Whiskey in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford Stakes for juvenile males.
Rico Walcott, the dominant jockey in Alberta the past nine years, was back working horses at Century Mile on Friday morning. It was a big moment for the 30-year-old journeyman who underwent surgery April 5.
According to his agent Bob Fowlis, Walcott may be ready to ride in a race as soon as Thursday.
“He has a lot of horses lined up to work the next couple of days,” said Fowlis. We’ll see how he’s doing after that.”
Kentucky Downs officials announced Friday that the winner of the Sept. 7 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint will receive a $1 million bonus if the horse proceeds to sweep the Oct. 5 Woodford at Keeneland and the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.
The offer comes on the heels of the Grade 3, $700,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint having been listed as the first-ever Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In event at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky.
Jockey Chris Emigh became the 70th jockey with at least 4,000 wins in North America when he guided Mr Haney to the milestone victory in the first race Thursday at Arlington.
Emigh, 48, has 1,100 winners at Arlington, third-most at the track behind Earlie Fires and Pat Day. Emigh began his jockey career in 1989 and has ridden every meeting at Arlington since 1997.
With a romp in the $50,000 Budweiser Stakes at Emerald Downs last Sunday, Anyportinastorm made it clear he is the horse to beat in the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 11. Trainer Blaine Wright said Anyportinastorm will skip the $50,000 Mt. Rainier Stakes on July 21 and train into the premier race in the Pacific Northwest.
“It looks like he’s doing it easily, but he lays it all down, and he isn’t the kind of horse you want to bring back in three weeks,” said Wright.
With less than two weeks remaining before the start of the Del Mar summer meeting, the track has yet to officially state whether Jerry Hollendorfer will be allowed to train and run horses there. Hollendorfer’s attorney expressed doubt earlier this week that the Hall of Famer will be allowed to race there.
