SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Eric Guillot said he has no regrets putting in a $100,000 claim for Teaks North, who finished last here Thursday, and if all goes well, he plans to point him to the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita in November.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Dance to Bristol, winner of six consecutive races including the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Stakes at Saratoga on July 29, will arrive here Sunday for her first Grade 1 opportunity in next Friday's $500,000 Ballerina Stakes.
On Friday, Dance to Bristol worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at the former Bowie Racecourse in Maryland.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A slight change of tactics led to change in result as Awesome Vision outkicked Bigger Is Better to win Friday’s $100,000 Saratoga Sunrise Stakes by one length at Saratoga.
The win came 25 days after Bigger Is Bettor defeated Awesome Vision by a head in the $100,000 Evan Shipman Stakes.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said he moved Awesome Vision toward the leaders a little earlier on Friday than he did in the Evan Shipman. That and the fact Awesome Vision changed leads in the stretch - something he didn’t do in the Evan Shipman - made the difference.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Centre Court finished a disappointing fifth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes here last month, and trainer Rusty Arnold believes he has a reason.
Centre Court had a foot abscess out of the race, Arnold said Friday. But Centre Court is apparently a quick healer as she has now worked twice since the Diana in preparation for a start in next Saturday's Grade 2, $250,000 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga.
AUBURN, Wash. – When the jockeys with mounts in the Longacres Mile assemble in the Emerald Downs paddock for the traditional prerace photograph Sunday afternoon, Debbie Hoonan will be there to rub elbows with some of the sport’s brightest lights. Russell Baze, a member of the National Racing Hall of Fame and Hoonan’s distant relative, will be present to ride likely favorite Politicallycorrect, and Mario Gutierrez, who won the 2012 Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another, has the call on Hoist.
There’s no point belaboring the obvious virtues of Princess of Sylmar in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, and to my mind no point trying to beat her.
Rylees Boy, the Quarter Horse champion aged horse and gelding of 2012, starts for the first time since February in Sunday’s $79,000 Bank of America California Challenge at Los Alamitos.
An 8-year-old, Rylees Boy won his last start, the track’s Winter Championship, earning an automatic berth to the Champion of Champions in December, a race he won last year.
Despite those credentials, Rylees Boy may not be trainer Paul Jones’s best chance in Sunday’s 440-yard race. Jones has three of the seven runners, including the stakes winners Jess Featureme Quick and Sparky E Boy.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It took a little longer than trainer Chad Brown had hoped, but Watsdachances has finally returned to the form that made her a multiple stakes-winning 2-year-old last year.
Coming off her best performance of the season in the Grade 2 Lake George last month, Watsdachances looks poised to return to the winner’s circle in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga.
Champion Groupie Doll, upset in last Saturday’s Grade 3 Gardenia Stakes at Ellis Park when third in her seasonal bow, remains on track for her scheduled fall campaign, trainer Buff Bradley said Friday.
She resumed training Thursday, and Bradley said he was pleased with her training both Thursday and Friday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Unusual Hottie’s perfect record in 2013 ended when she finished second behind Closing Range in the Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar on July 20. Unusual Hottie made her customary run from off the pace, led in deep stretch, but was beaten a neck.
“I think she got caught off guard,” trainer Jeff Mullins said. “I think she thought the job was done.”
