SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Upon further review, Fiftyshadesofgold did not escape the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes here unscathed.
Fiftyshadesofgold, who was interfered with along the rail in the stretch of the Aug. 11 Adirondack by Who’s in Town, has a fractured left shin and a chip in her right knee and will be out for the rest of the year, according to trainer Bret Calhoun.
DEL MAR, Calif. – With five weeks in the books, Del Mar continues to show significant gains in handle, and its ontrack attendance figures received a boost this past week owing to a Saturday-night concert by Weezer that attracted a large, late-arriving crowd.
Through the first 25 days of the meet, Del Mar’s overall handle is averaging $12,786,238 per day, a 9.4 percent increase from an average of $11,688,724 through the same period a year ago.
The ontrack handle is up 7.9 percent to an average of $2,495,931 per day.
Jockey Matt Garcia suffered a C7 fracture of the spine during a spill on Sunday at the Humboldt County Fair meet in Ferndale, Calif., according to track publicity director Ellis Davis.
Garcia, the leading rider at the meet, was flown from Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna to Santa Rosa on Sunday night. Doctors there could find no indication of paralysis, Davis said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Silent Treat goes back to turf in the six-furlong allowance headliner Wednesday night at Woodbine following a gutsy Polytrack allowance victory last month.
Silent Treat graduated in her second career start May 20, winning a maiden special weight race, and ran second to a sharp Lynnessa in a subsequent Ontario-sired allowance. Her first turf experience June 29 was troubled, as she was shut off between rivals in the stretch. She faded to fifth but was placed fourth via disqualification.
Dannhauser defied his 22-1 odds when he rallied to defeat 13 rivals in last fall’s Laurel Turf Cup going 1 1/2 miles. He won’t be anywhere close to double-digit odds Wednesday, when he tackles 12 furlongs on turf again in the $50,000 Cape Henlopen Stakes at Delaware Park.
Megatron Ruler, coming off a front-running win in the 5 1/2-furlong Graduation Stakes at Assiniboia Downs, looms as the horse to beat Wednesday evening in the six-furlong Osiris Stakes at Assiniboia Downs.
The $30,000 Osiris has attracted a field of six 2-year-olds.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Preakness winner Oxbow will not run again this year, and trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Monday he wouldn’t be surprised if the horse never raced again, though that is a decision to be made by owner Brad Kelley of Calumet Farm.
Oxbow suffered an ankle injury when finishing fourth in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 28. Though Lukas said Oxbow is sound, he has not returned to training and is simply walking the shed row.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Kentucky Derby winner Orb completed his preparations for Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes by working a half-mile in 47.66 seconds Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga.
Coming out after the 7:30 a.m. renovation break, Orb, under exercise rider Jennifer Patterson, went in equal quarters of 23.83 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.14, according to Daily Racing Form.
AUBURN, Wash. – For the second successive year, a brilliantly fast horse from British Columbia took the measure of some of the West Coast’s best middle-distance runners in the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs. Herbie D, the second favorite in a field of 12, set a crackling pace and refused to yield en route to a 1 1/2-length victory Sunday, while Politicallycorrect, the 9-5 favorite, never got involved and finished a distant ninth.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Halo Dolly returned to Del Mar on Sunday, and it was so nice to have her back where she belongs.
She successfully defended her title in the $150,000 Solana Beach Handicap, ran her record to 16 wins in 32 starts, and became only the fifth horse in track history to win the same stakes race for three consecutive years when scoring a half-length victory in the one-mile grass race restricted to older California-bred females.
