SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Seven 3-year-olds were entered Monday for Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga, but expect a shorter field than that come post time.
The Curlin is one of four stakes in the region for 3-year-olds over a three-day period, and several horsemen will be entering their horses in more than one race this weekend.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It’s supposed to heat up at Saratoga, with temperatures soaring into the 90s by midweek. Mother Nature still has a ways to go to get as hot as Bill Mott, a nine-time leading trainer at Saratoga who won six races over the first four days of the meet, including two on Monday.
An extra week of racing, terrific weather, and the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years helped the New York Racing Association post gains in total handle at the recently concluded Belmont spring-summer meet.
All-sources handle for the 59-day meet was $636,621,791, up 7.5 percent from the mark of $591,988,056 during 2014’s 54-day meet. Ontrack handle on Belmont Park’s races this year was $88,293,037, up 4.3 percent from $84,626,885 last year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Magna Light have appealed the Saratoga track stewards’ decision to disqualify that horse from first place in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford Stakes.
Magna Light finished first by three-quarters of a length, but was disqualified by the stewards after he drifted out severely under jockey Jose Ortiz’s left-handed whip then veered back in toward Percolator, who finished third, a half-length behind second-place finisher Uncle Vinny.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The 2014 Canadian Horse of the Year and Queen’s Plate winner Lexie Lou is nearing a return to racing at Woodbine, trainer Mark Casse said.
Lexie Lou, who also took home champion 3-year old filly and champion turf female honors at the Sovereign Awards in April, has not raced since finishing second in the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan 17. Casse said Lexie Lou needed some time off after a busy 2014 campaign that comprised eight starts, plus the La Canada in the early stages of 2015.
Haskell Day is always the high point of the Monmouth Park season. But this year is different. Way different.
American Pharoah’s win in the Belmont Stakes broke a 37-year Triple Crown drought. The pandemonium that broke out at Belmont Park during the stretch run and following the race was televised nationwide. People realize American Pharoah will race only a few more times, and they are hungry to see him. The reach of this year’s Haskell extends far beyond New Jersey.
Trainer Wayne Catalano on Sunday said he plans to run Top Clearance in next Sunday’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, bringing the number of probable rivals for Triple Crown winner American Pharoah to six.
Top Clearance, a son of Majestic Warrior owned by Gary and Mary West, won a first-level optional-claiming race at Monmouth Park on July 11. In his prior start, Top Clearance accounted for a Churchill Downs maiden race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Magna Light plan to appeal the stewards’ decision to disqualify that horse from first place in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga.
Magna Light finished first by three-quarters of a length but was disqualified by the stewards after he drifted out severely under jockey Jose Ortiz’s left-handed whip, then veered back in toward Percolator, who finished third, a half-length behind second-place finisher Uncle Vinny.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Princess Charm, a Group 3 winner in France in March, has joined trainer John Sadler’s stable and is a candidate for the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 15.
Princess Charm cleared quarantine last week and has begun training, Sadler said. She was recently purchased privately by Kosta and Pete Hronis.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Catch a Flight has won three graded stakes for older horses in Southern California since early May, including Saturday’s $200,500 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.
That victory will lead to a start in the $1 million Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 22, the richest race of the Del Mar summer meeting. The Grade 1 Pacific Classic will be a chance for Catch a Flight to become the clear leader of the circuit’s older horses.
