DEL MAR, Calif. – Handle was up significantly and attendance down slightly for Del Mar’s opening day on Wednesday, a trend that has developed here in recent years.
The opening-day crowd includes thousands of patrons desirous of being at one of the social events of the summer in this area, while many of the regulars – certainly not all, but many – take a pass on the day and send it in from home. There are still 35 days of live racing to go.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer won three races on Wednesday’s opening-day card at Del Mar, none potentially more significant than that of Brill in the first open 2-year-old filly race of the meet. Brill overcame a rough start and a distance likely short of optimum to prevail first time out going five furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Tatters to Riches was one of the most-exciting 2-year-old prospects on this circuit last summer, but went to the sidelines last fall with a chip in a hind ankle. He is just about set to return for trainer Jeff Mullins, who has high hopes for the 3-year-old colt.
“He’s ready,” said Mullins, who trains Tatters to Riches for the Cohen family’s Red Baron’s Barn. “It’s stressful getting him back because we know how much talent he has.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Finley’sluckycharm was beaten a neck by Paulassilverlining in last year’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap, and she is back at Saratoga for another try at that six-furlong stakes for fillies and mares.
On Wednesday, Finley’sluckycharm breezed a half-mile in 50.07 seconds over an Oklahoma training track rated “good.” Finley’sluckycharm will be trying to bounce back from a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs when she starts next Wednesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainers Todd Pletcher, Mark Casse, and Steve Asmussen each entered two horses in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford Stakes, the first of three graded dirt stakes for 2-year-olds at the meet.
Pletcher, a six-time Sanford winner, entered debut winners Lexitonian and Sombeyay, who drew the rail and post 2. Asmussen entered first-out winners Whiskey Echo (post 4) and Bano Solo (post 7), while Casse is going with Dream Maker (post 5) and Strike Silver (post 8), who won their debuts at Churchill Downs a week apart.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Proctor’s Ledge will have at least one thing in her favor when she takes on trainer Chad Brown’s arsenal of three Grade 1 winners in Saturday’s $500,000 Diana Stakes, the first Grade 1 race at Saratoga this year.
She loves the course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In 2015, there was American Pharoah. The following year, Songbird. Last year, the individual winners of all three Triple Crown races ran in the Travers for the first time in 35 years and the 4-year-old Gun Runner came out of upstate New York a legitimate Horse of the Year contender.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Amoss certainly doesn’t relish the thought of going up against both Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou with his Grade 2-winning filly Chocolate Martini again Sunday in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks. But such is life in the fast lane when spending the summer at Saratoga.
Chocolate Martini finished fifth, beaten 10 1/4 lengths by Monomoy Girl, in the Kentucky Oaks. Midnight Bisou finished third that day before returning to dominate the Grade 2 Mother Goose last month at Belmont Park.
DEL MAR Calif. – Collected and West Coast, second and third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last November, are rejoining trainer Bob Baffert’s stable for autumn campaigns after being rested in Kentucky.
West Coast, the champion 3-year-old male of 2017, arrived at Baffert’s barn at Los Alamitos last week. Collected, unraced since finishing seventh in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January, is set to arrive at Del Mar next week, Baffert said.
Baffert said Collected has more of a foundation of recent training.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Abel Tasman, impressive winner of the Ogden Phipps in her last start on June 9 at Belmont Park, worked six furlongs in 1:12 on Wednesday morning at Del Mar for a start either here or at Saratoga.
Her trainer, Bob Baffert, said he was not sure quite yet where Abel Tasman would make her next start. Options include the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch here on July 29, which also is the intended next start for fellow Eclipse Award winner Unique Bella, or waiting until the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 25.
