Jockey Hugo Herrera followed instructions perfectly aboard Blues Blaster in the Humboldt County Marathon on Sunday at Ferndale, and the result was a wire-to-wire victory in the 1 5/8-mile race.
“I told him, ‘Don’t give up the rail,’ and he did exactly what I wanted,” owner-trainer Bruce Dillenbeck said.
Dillenbeck said the Bulldog on Oct. 18 at the Big Fresno Fair is Blues Blaster’s likely next start.
There are nearly as many questions to be answered as there are talented runners signed up to run in Monday’s $50,000-added Rolling Green at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Golden Gate Fields.
The defending champion, Pepper Crown, will be back, but he has many uncertainties surrounding him.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – American Pharoah may have lost the Travers on Saturday, but the Triple Crown winner helped keep the Saratoga meet on a summer-long winning streak as all-sources handle is up 14.6 percent through the first 34 days of the 40-day meet compared to last year.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Pretty N Cool is expected to head a strong field in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday, and she completed her preparation for the race with a five-furlong work in 1:00.40 on Monday under jockey Martin Garcia.
Pretty N Cool is unbeaten in two starts and comes off a win in the Grade 2 Sorrento here Aug. 12.
Others expected for the Debutante include the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained trio of Songbird, Stays in Vegas, and Surfside Tiara.
The Debutante and Monday’s Del Mar Futurity both are at seven furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – American Pharoah will parade between races at Del Mar on Sunday, the track announced Monday.
American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner, was scheduled to arrive at Del Mar late Monday afternoon after traveling from Saratoga, where he finished second in the Travers Stakes on Saturday. Trainer Bob Baffert said American Pharoah would remain at Del Mar until his barn relocates to Santa Anita on Sept. 8, the day after this meet ends.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lea, who has made his last eight starts on dirt, including a victory in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream in 2014, will return to turf in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 13, trainer Bill Mott confirmed.
Lea hasn’t raced on turf since August 2013, when he finished third to Wise Dan in the Fourstardave here while trained by Al Stall. He is expected to take on Wise Dan in the Woodbine Mile.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Saratoga stewards fined Victor Espinoza, the jockey of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, $15,000 for wearing promotional material without permission after having been specifically instructed not to do so by the stewards.
Espinoza wore the name “Monster Energy Drink” on his boots and his own name on his pants while riding American Pharoah in the Grade 1 Travers.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mike Luzzi, out of action for 10 months after breaking his leg and pelvis in a paddock accident at Aqueduct on Nov. 2, returns to the saddle Wednesday when he rides Artie Crasher in the eighth race, a $50,000 claimer.
Luzzi is also named on the first-time starter O K by Me in Thursday’s fifth race.
“I’m happy – glad somebody gave me a shot,” Luzzi said Monday. “I wanted to ride a couple of live ones first.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – La Verdad could be disqualified from her victory in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga on July 29 after she tested positive for clenbuterol, a bronchodilator.
Linda Rice, the trainer of La Verdad, confirmed that she had been notified by the stewards about the positive. Rice said she has requested a split sample of urine and blood be sent out to be tested because she claims she did not treat the horse with clenbuterol.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Young Brian, an impressive debut winner earlier in the meet and expected to be one of the favorites for the Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7, was injured in a workout at Del Mar on Monday, and his career likely is over, according to his owner and breeder, John Liviakis.
“He’s done,” Liviakis said. “I really think this was the big horse. I’m lucky to have had him. I’m gonna breed some mares to him.”
Liviakis and trainer Phil D’Amato said the injury was to a sesamoid bone in a front leg.
