Implementation is coming off arguably the strongest performance of his career, a two-length victory going six furlongs over the main track Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Smile Sprint. But his trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., said it will likely be back to the grass for the versatile sprinter and a shot at a really lucrative payday later this summer in the $2 million Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mark Casse enjoyed his best Saratoga ever in 2024, fueled primarily by his 2-year-old crop that accounted for nine of his 15 victories at the meet.
Casse’s nine juvenile wins were second only to Chad Brown’s 10 at the 2024 meet, and those two trainers are likely to figure prominently again this summer at a meet that officially begins Thursday.
From early Friday evening to Saturday morning and into Saturday afternoon, life was good for Mark Casse at Saratoga.
Casse capped the Friday card by winning the Harvey Pack Stakes with Bring Theband Home, who rolled to a 4 1/4-legnth victory in the turf sprint and earned a whopping 109 Beyer Speed Figure.
Casse started the Saturday card by sending out the first-time starter Ewing, by Knicks Go, to a 12-length victory in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Brad Cox plans to run both of his Grade 1-winning 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga this summer, but not it’s not expected to be against each other.
Immersive, the 2-year-old filly champion of 2024 who suffered her first career defeat in the Monomoy Girl Stakes last month at Churchill Downs, is targeting the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 19. Good Cheer, winner of her first seven starts including the Kentucky Oaks before finishing fifth of six in the Grade 1 Acorn here on June 6, will train up to the Grade 1 Alabama on Aug. 16.
Jockey Abel Lezcano has been suspended eight racing days – July 18 through 31 – for careless riding and excessive use of the whip in the ninth race at Los Alamitos on June 27, according to two recent rulings published by track stewards.
The suspension coincides with the first eight racing days of the Del Mar summer meeting.
Ag Bullet, the 5-year-old mare who beat males in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga on June 8, has resumed training after a brief rest.
Trainer Richard Baltas said on Thursday that Ag Bullet had a three-week break after the Jaipur and is being prepared for the Grade 2 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint, a $2 million race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs on Aug. 30. Ag Bullet won the same race in 2024 when it had a purse of $1.5 million.
The former claimer Roll On Big Joe is bound for the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 26 after winning his second Grade 3 stakes of the year in the $250,000 Kelly’s Landing Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 28.
The $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes is the leading sprint of the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 18. The winner of the Bing Crosby receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. will carry some momentum into the traditional 40-day Saratoga meet that begins on Thursday.
When Santana got Awesome Czech to the wire a head in front of Vino Rouge to win Friday’s opener, it was his 22nd win since moving his tack to New York at the beginning of May. He has ridden winners for 16 different trainers.
“I have a new agent, P.J. Campo, who gave me the opportunity to come to New York,” Santana said. “This has always been my dream to be in New York. Things have gone really well.”
