DEL MAR, Calif. – The calling card for Big Macher during his rise from a maiden claimer to a Grade 1 stakes winner has been his will to win, but that spirit was absent last Sunday in the Pat O’Brien Stakes, a performance trainer Richard Baltas believes was due to coming back too quickly for a second race following a lengthy layoff.
Big Macher won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby over six furlongs early in the meet but finished sixth of seven in the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien.
Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico on Thursday will draw post positions for the $2.6 million All American Futurity for Quarter Horses. The race is the richest offering for 2-year-olds in North America and closes out the meet Monday.
There will be 10 horses entered in the All American, but just nine will start, as qualifier Im A Fancy Pyc will be scratched after an injury following his trial, according to Ruidoso. He will receive a portion of the purse for being one of 10 qualifiers during 28 trials run Aug. 14-15.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar’s turf course was aerated Monday and extensively watered overnight, all designed to keep the course in excellent shape through the final week-plus of the meet.
“We’ve been heavily watering it once a week,” Leif Dickinson, the turf course and grounds superintendent at Del Mar, said Tuesday.
Racing was suspended on Del Mar’s turf course twice this meet, owing to injuries. The performance of the course has improved since it has been aerated and heavily watered on a regular basis.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Obviously, who finished fourth on Sunday as the favorite in the Del Mar Mile after breaking poorly, came out of the race in good condition and will be trained straight into the Breeders’ Cup Mile, without a prep, trainer Phil D’Amato said Tuesday.
“That was the original plan before the race, and just because he didn’t win, I don’t want to change,” D’Amato said. “He runs well fresh, and he loves Santa Anita. I know we can have him ready to run his best race off the bench.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – I Spent It, the winner of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on Aug. 9, worked five furlongs in 59.91 seconds over the main track Tuesday.
Trainer Tony Dutrow said I Spent It most likely will skip Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes and point to the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 4. Dutrow said he is keeping the door open a tad for the Hopeful in the event that the race loses a marquee player such as Competitive Edge.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Typically by this time of the meet in recent years, it is a fait accompli who will be leading trainer at Saratoga. Usually, the only question left to be answered is how many wins Todd Pletcher will have come the end of the meet on Labor Day.
DEL MAR, Calif. – With his victories Sunday in the Pacific Classic and Del Mar Mile, as well as two other races on the card, jockey Mike Smith continued his spectacular season here, where he leads all riders in stakes wins and is just two wins back of the top spot in the overall standings despite riding far fewer horses.
“He’s a sensational big-money rider,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, the trainer and co-owner of Shared Belief, who won the Pacific Classic. “Mike is really in the groove.”
Trainer Bill Kaplan has confirmed East Hall as a starter for the Grade 2 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs and said he plans to breeze the horse at Gulfstream Park on Saturday before shipping him out by van the following day.
East Hall, the winner of the Ohio Derby in his last start, was under consideration for the $75,000 Monarchos at Gulfstream this Saturday, but Kaplan said he feels comfortable giving the late-running gelding a shot at bigger money a week later in the $400,000 Super Derby.
Russell Baze said he had a “fun” day Sunday, and it wasn’t simply because he rode five winners at Golden Gate Fields.
Make no mistake: Baze, the world’s winningest rider, likes winning. But there was more than just the five wins – only two on favorites – that made the day special.
On Sunday morning, he accompanied the undefeated Look Quickly through an easy 47.80-second half-mile drill in her final prep before her return to racing Friday, when she’ll meet older rivals in an allowance sprint.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If trainer Rick Violette had any trepidation about running his top 2-year-old prospect Upstart on just nine days’ rest in last Sunday’s Funny Cide Stakes, it certainly prove unfounded. Upstart won the race for 2-year-old New York-breds in impressive fashion and earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
Now Violette will give Upstart a little time off before pointing him to either the one-mile Champagne at Belmont Park or the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, both on Oct. 4.
