SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Merry Meadow, the winner of the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park on July 5, will make her next start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Stakes, trainer Mark Hennig said Monday.
Merry Meadow, a 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes, has won four of her last five starts. Hennig had thought about waiting for the Masters Stakes at Presque Isle Downs in September.
“She’s doing so good,” Hennig said Monday. “She likes it here. I want to take a shot.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Tony Dutrow has always done well at Saratoga, and though he’s started fewer horses at this meet than in years past, he has maintained his high success rate.
Through Monday, Dutrow had a record of 5-4-4 from 14 starters at the meet and scored what he called the “most prestigious” win of his career last Saturday when Embellish the Lace posted a front-running score in the Grade 1 Alabama.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The news that Triple Crown winner American Pharoah is coming to Saratoga for Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes was met with angst and consternation from most of the trainers looking to run their 3-year-olds in the race.
The main exception was Keith Desormeaux, the trainer of Jim Dandy Stakes winner Texas Red, who still isn’t convinced that American Pharoah is coming and welcomes the challenge if he does.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion is looking forward to Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego with one of the newest additions to his barn, Bourbon Courage.
Bourbon Courage, who earned more than $1.1 million and placed in Grade 1 stakes with former trainer Kellyn Gorder, was transferred to Motion’s barn late this spring and has had one start for him, finishing second in a six-furlong stakes last month at Delaware Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer George Weaver had high hopes for his up-and-coming 3-year-old sprinter Requite in Saturday’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop. But those dreams went down the drain when Requite injured his foot in a stall accident late last week.
Weaver said Requite “tore a big chunk of his hoof off.”
Requite finished second in the Grade 2 Amsterdam here earlier this summer, and Weaver thought he might go one better in the King’s Bishop.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert said American Pharoah was “a happy guy” on Monday morning here at Del Mar, the day after a strong workout sealed the Triple Crown winner’s participation in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.
American Pharoah walked at Baffert’s barn on Monday, which is standard operating procedure the day after a workout. Immediately following his walk, American Pharoah got a new pair of shoes.
“He just got shod,” Baffert said. “New Nikes.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Attendance and handle figures fell on Saturday’s 11-race Pacific Classic program at Del Mar from the corresponding day in 2014, with a decline in handle attributed to software problems that knocked two leading account wagering providers out of action in the last half of the program.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Appealing Tale, who won the first stakes of his career in the $245,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday, may not start again until the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
The 5-year-old Appealing Tale earned a fees-paid berth for the BC Dirt Mile with the win in the Grade 2 O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs. Sunday, trainer Peter Miller said he does not have firm plans of how he wants to prepare Appealing Tale for the Dirt Mile.
“We’ve got to figure out whether to train him up to the Breeders’ Cup or run him in between,” he said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The absence of the $200,000 John Henry Turf Championship at the Santa Anita autumn meeting this year has left several California trainers scrambling on ways to prepare their marathon turf horses for potential starts in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Beholder, who scored a dazzling victory against males in the Pacific Classic on Saturday, pulled up “better than I did,” trainer Richard Mandella said at his Del Mar barn on Sunday morning.
“That was very, very exciting,” Mandella said. “She came out of the race in great shape. We went to the Rancho Valencia after the race. I had a drink called the Bourbon Beast that I found very interesting.”
