The former claimer Cupid’s Claws will start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic or Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 21 after a game second-place finish in the Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on July 18.
Cupid’s Claws was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Pacific Classic hopeful Tizmagician in the Cougar II Stakes on dirt after dueling for the lead on the turn.
Jockey Rafael Bejarano has been denied access to all Kentucky tracks pending resolution to a July 11 incident that led to his ejection from Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
The Ellis stewards issued a ruling Sunday that bars Bejarano from all facilities under the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Bejarano has not ridden since July 11.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The famed red and gold silks of Sam-Son Farm have been in the Queen’s Plate winner’s circle on five occasions, with its last Queen’s Plate win coming 12 years ago by Eye of the Leopard in 2009. Since then, Sam-Son has had a pair of runner-up finishes from 10 starters in the Queen’s Plate – Hotep in 2010 and Up With the Birds in 2013.
CINCINNATI – Santiago Gonzalez, easily the leading rider at the current Belterra meet, will be out indefinitely after suffering a fractured femur in a training accident early Friday. Gonzalez was expected to need surgery for the injury, according to a track spokesman.
Gonzalez leads the Belterra standings with 69 wins, well ahead of the 45 posted by Perry Ouzts (through Thursday). His earnings at a meet that runs April 29 through Oct. 8 are just more than $1 million.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Code of Honor, the 2019 Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, appears to be ahead of schedule in his bid to return to the races this fall.
On Wednesday, Code of Honor worked a half-mile in 50.69 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. It was his second work since being shipped back to trainer Shug McGaughey following a lengthy break. He also worked twice at Niall Brennan’s farm in Ocala, Fla., where he was turned out following a fifth-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After making a successful return to the races in an allowance race Wednesday, Forza Di Oro will be pointed to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup here on Sept. 4, trainer Bill Mott said.
Forza Di Oro won the Grade 3 Discovery in November 2020, but was sidelined with an ankle injury that delayed his 4-year-old debut until Wednesday. He won that 1 1/8-mile race, over a sealed, muddy track, by widening three lengths and earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rodolphe Brisset is in Saratoga this week, and how the four horses he brought to run in stakes over an eight-day period fare will determine the length of his stay in upstate New York.
Brisset, who was to run Demodog in Friday’s Grade 3 Lake George, is scheduled to send out longshot Rockpaperscissors in Saturday’s Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, logical contender Crystal Ball in Sunday’s Grade 3 Shuvee, and the improving Harvard in next Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes for 3-year-olds.
The 4-year-old gelding Ginobili won for the first time in 23 months with a remarkable 9 3/4-length score in a one-mile allowance race last Saturday at Del Mar.
Ginobili earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 104, which trainer Richard Baltas described as “a really nice surprise.”
The victory is likely to lead to his first appearance in a stakes in 18 months in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on Aug. 28 at Del Mar.
The Santa Anita stakes winner Whatmakessammyrun, fifth as the 2-1 favorite in the Oceanside Stakes at a mile on turf July 16, will return to a sprint at Kentucky Downs in September.
Whatmakessammyrun was beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Flashiest in the Oceanside Stakes, his first start since a win in the Desert Code Stakes for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on turf on June 6 at Santa Anita. Trainer Mark Glatt said Whatmakessammyrun will be pointed to the Grade 2 Franklin-Simpson Stakes, a $600,000 race for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf on Sept. 11.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Nearly a year after she won her maiden for a $40,000 claiming tag here last summer, Robin Sparkles will make her graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Caress Stakes for fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.
Robin Sparkles, a New York-bred daughter of Elusive Quality, has five wins and a second from six starts on turf. Her lone stakes victory came in the off-the-turf Mount Vernon Stakes for New York-breds in the mud on May 31. On June 24, she won an open-company allowance race, running six furlongs in 1:07.14.
