Alex and JoAnn Lieblong will be back at Saratoga on Friday, less than a week after the Conway, Ark., residents watched The Big Beast give them their third career Grade 1 victory as owners in the King’s Bishop. It’s been a big meet for the Lieblongs, who also race I Spent It, the winner of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on Aug. 10.
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ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington’s all-sources average daily handle has declined about 15 percent during the first 66 days of its 2014 racing season compared with the same period in 2013. The number is not good, but the track actually has rebounded over the last two months after experiencing even sharper early-meet handle declines.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It’s hard enough to get one horse to win six consecutive races. In the last 22 months, Chad Brown has had three horses pull off the feat.
On Saturday at Saratoga, Zivo will bring a six-race winning streak into the Grade 1, $600,000 Woodward Stakes, where he will face Whitney one-two finishers Moreno and Itsmyluckyday in the 1 1/8-mile dirt race. The Woodward is one of four stakes on a 12-race card that includes the return of two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Grade 2, $250,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap on turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Princess Violet, scratched from the Grade 1 Test with a foot bruise, returns in a competitive renewal of the Grade 2, $300,000 Prioress Stakes on Saturday.
Princess Violet, a New York-bred daughter of Officer, won a New York-bred first-level allowance sprint going six furlongs at Belmont on May 16. She came back against Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable in the Grade 1 Mother Goose and tried to press her early on before having to settle for second, 9 1/4 lengths back.
“She made a very good horse work for a while,” trainer Mike Hushion said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Perhaps looking to take advantage of his colt’s affinity for Saratoga, trainer Phil Serpe entered Weekend Hideaway in Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego Stakes here.
Weekend Hideaway is coming back 15 days after winning the John Morrissey Stakes against New York-breds on Aug. 15, his third victory from four starts sprinting on dirt at Saratoga. In the Morrissey, he defeated Big Business by two lengths. Big Business was supplemented to the Forego by trainer David Jacobson, who won this race last year with Strapping Groom.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – One of trainer Charlie LoPresti’s concerns in bringing Wise Dan back to the races in Saturday’s Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga was catching a short field with one loose-on-the-lead horse.
He need not be worried.
When entries closed Wednesday, there were 10 horses entered against Wise Dan, including the speedsters Five Iron and Sayaad. Two of the 10, Lea and Red Rifle, were entered for the main track only.
The $500,000 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20, the final major stakes of the year for 2-year-olds, has been added to the list of qualifying races for the 2015 Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs announced Wednesday.
The Los Alamitos Futurity will be the top race for 2-year-olds at the Los Alamitos December Thoroughbred meeting, which replaces racing dates previously run at Hollywood Park. In recent years, Hollywood Park ran the $750,000 CashCall Futurity in December. In 2013, the CashCall Futurity was omitted from the Kentucky Derby qualifying system.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Sunset Glow, who won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 6, will run in Saturday’s $300,000 Del Mar Debutante against 2-year-old fillies and not in the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity against males on closing day, Sept. 3, trainer Wesley Ward said Wednesday.
Ward had considered both races in recent weeks before settling on the Del Mar Debutante, he said.
“We’re going to take the conventional path,” he said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lea, the Grade 1 Donn Handicap winner, most likely will make his return to the races in the Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack Handicap at Churchill Downs on Sept. 6, trainer Bill Mott said Wednesday.
Lea was entered for the main track only in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bernard Baruch, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the turf. As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, the weather.com forecast for Saturday called for only a 10 percent chance of rain.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Pacific National Exhibition ends Monday, and although the mini-doughnuts will be missed, it means the major races at Hastings are just around the corner. On Sept. 14, the features will be the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby and the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks.
Last Friday, the two major preps for the Derby and Oaks took place, and both favorites – Koffee Grinder in the Richmond Derby Trial and Ole’s Miss in the Hong Kong Jockey Club – finished second. Both races were contested over 1 1/16 miles.