SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Some very good horses have failed in the Haskell Invitational before turning back in distance to win the Grade 1 King’s Bishop. And none of them had to face a Triple Crown winner.
Competitive Edge likely will look to add his name to a list that includes Hard Spun, Tale of the Cat, and More than Ready if he, as expected, runs in the King’s Bishop at seven furlongs here Aug. 29.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Stopchargingmaria chased, caught, and beat the champion Untapable in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee, and they are headed for a rematch in the Grade 1, $750,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
Stopchargingmaria won for the eighth time in 14 career starts, and trainer Todd Pletcher called the performance “arguably the strongest race of her career.”
Stopchargingmaria earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 95 for the effort.
DEL MAR, Calif. – All-sources average handle is on the rise at Del Mar.
After a slow start to the summer meeting caused by wet weather on opening weekend, July 17-18, the track reported a 1.2 percent rise in average handle through Sunday, the 14th day of the 40-day meeting.
Average handle was $12,561,148 compared with $12,411,493 at the same point in the 2014 summer meeting. The all-sources handle includes simulcasting and account-wagering sources. Simulcasting handle, from California and out of state, has risen 3 percent, while account-wagering handle has risen 11 percent.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – American Pharoah left Monmouth Park on Monday morning bound for his summer home at Del Mar, where he will train for his next start, a decision that trainer Bob Baffert and owner Ahmed Zayat won’t make until they see how he comes out of the race when he returns to the track later this week.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Prospect Park, second by a nose in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby on July 4, is set for his turf debut in the $150,000 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 9 after a five-furlong workout on the surface Sunday.
Prospect Park worked five furlongs in 1:02.80, his second work on turf this summer.
Owned by breeders Marty and Pam Wygod and trained by Clifford Sise, Prospect Park has won 2 of 9 starts and earned $306,570. Earlier this year, he was second in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes and the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Tara’s Tango, second in three consecutive stakes at Santa Anita through the spring, will be a heavy favorite in Wednesday’s seventh race, an optional claimer for fillies and mares at a mile.
Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer for Stonestreet Stables, Tara’s Tango can win the second race of her career against eight opponents.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Talis, winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland last October, is nearing her 2015 debut at Del Mar.
On Sunday, Talis worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds, the fastest of 64 recorded works at the distance. The workout left trainer Simon Callaghan tentatively planning a start in the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs Aug. 16.
“I think that makes sense,” he said.
Talis, 4, is considered a candidate for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Beholder may have outgrown her female counterparts this summer.
A day after Beholder’s convincing win in the $300,750 Clement Hirsch Stakes, trainer Richard Mandella reiterated Sunday the two-time champion will be considered for the $1 million Pacific Classic against males Aug. 22 at Del Mar.
Mandella mentioned the Pacific Classic in the winner’s circle after the Hirsch and said Sunday the 5-year-old mare’s condition in coming weeks will determine a course of action.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It took Honor Code 50 minutes to breeze a half-mile in 50 seconds Sunday morning at Saratoga.
After spending about 30 minutes on the Oklahoma training track - where he twice refused to break off - Honor Code went over to the main track, where he eventually worked a half-mile in 50.37 seconds in preparation for an expected start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney Stakes. All totaled, his time between the two tracks amounted to 50 minutes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As fun a race as Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt was to watch, it does not appear likely there will be a rematch Aug. 29 in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga.
Rock Fall beat The Big Beast by a nose in the Vanderbilt, a race in which John Velazquez, the rider of The Big Beast, lost his whip in midstretch and had to resort to using his goggles to try to get more out of his horse.
