DEL MAR, Calif. - Garrett Gomez will resume riding on Saturday after receiving doctor’s clearance following recent treatment for alcoholism.
Gomez’s doctors told California Horse Racing Board officials on Thursday that Gomez was fit to resume riding, according to steward Tom Ward. In recent days, Gomez has undergone counseling for substance abuse and mental health issues with a psychiatrist in Newport Beach, Calif.
Needmore Flattery will be going for her fourth win in as many lifetime starts in the $50,000 Cleveland Kindergarten for 2-year-old Ohio-breds at Thistledown on Saturday.
Needmore Flattery won at first asking July 6 at Thistledown. Trainer Tim-Hamm took Needmore Flattery to Beulah Park eight days later, and she won the $50,000 Hoover against statebred males by nearly four lengths. In her most recent outing, she won the $50,000 Miss Ohio locally by over eight lengths against statebred fillies going 5 1/2 furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Paynter, second in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 27, worked six furlongs in 1:13.40 on Thursday for a late August stakes at Del Mar or Saratoga.
Paynter, who recovered from severe cases of colitis and laminitis last fall, worked in company with the stakes winner Fed Biz, who was given the same time.
AUBURN, Wash. – Much as they have in previous stakes races at Emerald Downs this summer, stablemates Stopshoppingdebbie, Goin to the Window, and Blueberry Smoothie are expected to dominate the proceedings Saturday in the $65,000 Washington Oaks, the meeting’s traditional championship for 3-year-old fillies. The 10-race card begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Having run in the Firecracker Handicap, and with the re-emergence of stablemate Turallure, Wise Dan’s fall campaign may be altered from last year, trainer Charlie LoPresti said Thursday.
Last year, after winning the Grade 2 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga – the same race he runs in Saturday – Wise Dan ran in the Woodbine Mile and the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland before the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Comma to the Top, a three-time stakes winner this year, has been sidelined with a sore foot that will prevent him from starting in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in November, trainer Peter Miller said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Doug O’Neill reversed a poor start to the Del Mar meeting with three wins on Wednesday’s eight-race program. Two of the wins were with 2-year-old fillies who could start in lucrative stakes in the final days of the meeting.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Summer of Fun has run too well to still be seeking her first stakes victory midway through her 3-year-old campaign, a situation trainer George Weaver hopes to rectify when he sends his multiple graded stakes-placed filly out against a talented and well-matched lineup in Saturday’s $100,000 Auntie Mame Stakes at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When he ran in the Fourstardave Handicap last year, Wise Dan was coming off a loss, had not raced on turf in 10 months, and at 119 pounds was in receipt of a pound from the 2010 Fourstardave winner, Get Stormy.
