Del Mar has restored the purses of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and Grade 2 Del Mar Derby to pre-pandemic levels, the track announced in a statement on Friday.
The Pacific Classic, run at 1 1/4 miles on dirt on Aug. 21, will be worth $1 million, the same prize money level as the 1991 to 2019 runnings. The race was worth $500,000 in 2020 when the track slashed stakes purses because of the pandemic and was originally advertised with a purse of $750,000 this year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride the champion filly Swiss Skydiver in next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes, trainer Ken McPeek confirmed.
Jose Ortiz was named to ride Swiss Skydiver in the Ogden Phipps, a race from which she was scratched due to a temperature. Jose Ortiz is committed to ride Maxfield in the Whitney.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The last time Imprimis was seen in Saratoga, he was disqualified from a convincing victory in the Grade 3 Troy Stakes. The last time he was seen in the afternoon at any track, Imprimis was bleeding from his nostrils after breaking his nose in the starting gate while finishing second in the Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland in April.
Trainer Joe Orseno has put both those incidents behind him and is ready to bring Imprimis back to the races in next Friday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Troy at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he had over a year to write it, trainer Mark Casse finally completed his Hall of Fame speech Thursday night.
“I’m a bit of a procrastinator,” Casse said Friday morning at his Saratoga barn.
Casse, who was elected into the Hall of Fame last year, will be formally inducted next Friday. Last year’s ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19.
Prior to giving what he said will be an emotional speech, Casse will have plenty to keep himself busy as he prepares horses for upcoming stakes here.
Stellar Sound and Lady Mystify each returned from a lengthy layoff to win an allowance race on Thursday at Del Mar. Both will run in a stakes later in August.
Stellar Sound, third in three stakes in 2019 and 2020, caught 7-5 favorite Scotish Star in the final strides to win a six-furlong allowance race for fillies and mares on Thursday. A 4-year-old filly by Tapit, Stellar Sound, who paid $8.80, had not raced since a third in the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos last December.
“I thought it was quite a comeback,” trainer Michael McCarthy said.
Recent events led to a 2-year-old colt trained by Doug O’Neill to be named Haskelled in advance of his career debut in a maiden special weight race on Sunday at Del Mar.
On July 17, the Doug O’Neill-trained Hot Rod Charlie finished first in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, only to be disqualified for causing interference in the stretch. The decision was an expensive one. The Haskell had a purse of $1 million and paid $600,000 to promoted winner Mandaloun. Hot Rod Charlie was demoted to last.
A couple of capable 3-year-olds with stakes experience will line up alongside each other as likely favorites in the only allowance on an 11-race Sunday card at Gulfstream Park.
Fulmini and Kartano, both based at Palm Meadows, will break closest to the rail following the expected scratch of Big Thorn from the fifth race, a $52,000 first-level allowance at a mile on turf. Both are stretch-running types who stand to benefit from all the opposing speed to their outside, most notably Exchange Day and Todaystheday, both stretching out from a series of five-furlong races.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Two key local stakes preps for the $1 million Queen’s Plate will be contested Sunday at Woodbine, with the running of the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks and $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes, but most of the key contenders for the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown appear to be comfortable training up to the Aug. 22 race.
Five Star General appears to be peaking at the right time for owner-trainer Glen Todd. Last year, Five Star General finished second behind Anothertwistafate in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile. Todd hopes the 5-year-old horse by Distorted Humor can one up himself when he runs in the premier race in the Northwest on Aug. 15.
“He just ran the best race of his life, so he is on full tilt right now,” Todd said.
HENDERSON, Ky. – Big fields with a number of recognizable names are shaping up for the seven Kentucky Downs preview stakes to be run next Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 7-8) at Ellis Park.
Six of the seven stakes are worth $100,000 and serve as preps for much richer races to be run during the six-day Kentucky Downs meet Sept. 5-12. All are scheduled for the Ellis turf, given that Kentucky Downs is a turf-only course.
