ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Mick Halford has saddled more than 1,000 winners at home in Ireland and sent horses out to race internationally, but he is set to have his first North American runner Saturday when Platinum Warrior starts in the Grade 1, $400,000 Secretariat Stakes.
Halford, a former jockey, said all is well with Platinum Warrior, who trained here for the first time Wednesday and has recovered from a minor shipping fever that slightly set him back Sunday into Monday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – North American racing fans who don’t attend to the sport in England and Dubai probably remember Simon Crisford as the longtime face and voice of Godolphin. Crisford was there for the beginning of Sheikh Mohammed’s multipronged racing and breeding operation and for more than 20 years worked as Godolphin’s spokesman.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Six 2-year-old fillies who all won their only start were entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.
Lyrical Lady, one of five 2-year-old winners sent out at the meet by trainer Steve Asmussen, looks like the probable favorite. Trainer Todd Pletcher entered both Virginia Eloise, who won at Belmont on July 4, and Guacamole, who was placed first when the stewards disqualified Super Simple – also trained by Asmussen – here on July 26.
Mucho Amor, Sue’s Fortune, and Grandma Gertie complete the sextet.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Divisidero, who on Tuesday was entered for Saturday’s Grade 1 Arlington Million, will be rerouted to Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga, according to owner Tom Keithley.
Six horses, headed by the millionaire Alert Bay, were entered Wednesday for Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.
Alert Bay, trained by Blaine Wright, is making his first start in over a year, throwing the premier race in the Pacific Northwest wide open.
The one they will have to run down is Kaabraaj, who is taking a big step up in class after winning a first-level allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option on July 8.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Since May 1, trainer Doug O’Neill has won 40 races nationwide, finished first in the trainer standings at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, and had four wins on July 18, opening day of the Del Mar meeting.
O’Neill’s 2-year-old runners have played a pivotal role in that success. O’Neill had won nine races from 57 2-year-old starters from May 1 through Sunday, compared to three wins from 26 starters in the same span last year.
“We’ve had a lot of luck with the homebreds and the private purchases,” O’Neill said Wednesday.
Got Stormy, who has won three consecutive one-mile turf stakes, will attempt to stretch out to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 18, trainer Mark Casse said Wednesday.
“It’s a Grade 1,” said Casse, who trains Got Stormy for Southern California-based owner Gary Barber. “She’s already a Grade 3 winner. She’s at the top of her game. Right now is the time to try. My only concern is the distance, but I also think Del Mar’s turf course will suit her really well. She’s got a quick turn of foot, and with those short turns I think she’s got a big shot.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bravazo, the runner-up in the Preakness and the Haskell Invitational last out, worked a half-mile in 51.23 seconds on Wednesday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 25.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said the work was “too slow” and blamed himself for overcoaching the exercise rider.
“Too slow is easy to fix; too fast is harder to fix,” Lukas said. “I can come back in less than a week and work him again. I have time for two more works.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Chad Brown, who has major contenders in all three Grade 1 races here Saturday, said via text message that he intends to be on a private charter that will depart Saratoga at about 11 a.m. Eastern on race morning, with arrival in Chicago expected around noon Central. At least five jockeys also will be on the plane, which will return Saturday night to Saratoga: John Velazquez, Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, Joel Rosario, and Florent Geroux.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Red Ruby, the emphatic winner of the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks last month, will miss the Grade 1 Alabama and potentially the remainder of her 3-year-old season due to a splint-bone injury, trainer Kellyn Gorder said Wednesday.
Gorder said Red Ruby may have a hairline fracture of a splint bone in a front leg and is getting stall rest at Keeneland, where she is based.
“We’re pretty positive that’s what it is, but we need to X-ray it again,” Gorder said. “She’s just getting stall rest to keep [the leg] as quiet as we can.”
