SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sovereignty, who has bounced out of his decisive victory over Journalism in the Belmont Stakes with a series of eye-catching gallops on the Oklahoma training track the past two weeks, finally returned to the work tab on Friday. He breezed an easy half-mile in 51.27 seconds, per Daily Racing Form, over a track that has been very cuppy and on the slower side of late.
Grand Slam Smile, a five-time stakes winner at Santa Anita in the last two years, starts for the first time since November in an allowance race at Los Alamitos on Saturday, her first start for new trainer Sean McCarthy.
Grand Slam Smile, who races for owners and breeders Larry and Marianne Williams, was trained in her first 11 starts by Steve Specht, who retired in late 2024.
A 4-year-old filly, Grand Slam Smile was transferred to McCarthy earlier this year.
“We’ve gotten to know her with each work,” McCarthy said on Friday.
Goal Oriented, fourth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17 in his stakes debut, is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 19, trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday.
Goal Oriented worked five furlongs in a rapid 58.60 seconds under jockey Drayden Van Dyke at Santa Anita on Friday, the colt’s third workout of the month. Goal Oriented zipped through a half-mile in 47.20 seconds on June 13, and went a half-mile in 48.40 seconds last Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission announced Thursday that horses in Barn 66 at Saratoga were under a 14-day quarantine that began on Saturday, June 21. A suspected case of strangles was confirmed after a positive test was returned Wednesday night on a 2-year-old George Weaver trainee stabled in that barn.
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke will be suspended for two days on July 4 and 5 and fined $5,200 after dropping his appeal of more severe penalties issued last November for a whip violation in a winning ride aboard Soul of an Angel in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar.
The day after the win, Van Dyke was suspended three days and fined $15,600. He appealed the infraction but recently dropped the appeal, according to a ruling issued by Los Alamitos stewards last weekend.
Straight No Chaser, the champion sprinter of 2024, is nearing his first workout since an eighth-place finish in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint in Dubai in April, trainer Dan Blacker said on Thursday.
Blacker said it unclear whether Straight No Chaser will be ready for the next sprint stakes in Southern California, the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 26.
Kopion, the nation’s leading female sprinter, worked six furlongs in 1:12.20 at Santa Anita on Thursday in preparation for the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5.
Kopion worked alone in an training run that trainer Richard Mandella described as “nice stuff.”
“I couldn’t be happier” with her, Mandella said.
Trainer Ned Allard said this week that 4-year-old gelding Quint’s Brew is working back from a “minor issue” and will not race again until the fall. The budding Mid-Atlantic runner shipped to New York in his last two starts and finished second in a pair of graded stakes.
“It’s just going to require some time off,” Allard said. “You’ll see him in the fall and he’ll be just fine.”
A new maiden special weight condition for Maryland-bred juveniles is provoking several trainers to take rare trips to Laurel Park this week.
Ohio-based trainer Tim Hamm will bring filly Jen d’Oro for the fourth race on Friday, while Chad Summers will ship Tartabull from New York for his debut in the fifth race on Saturday. Both races will be run at 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt.
