ELMONT, N.Y. - With both the main track and training track still wet from Friday and Saturday rain, Sunday morning’s worktab at Belmont Park wasn’t as busy as usual. Still, there were some big names - mostly from the barn of Todd Pletcher - among the 70 horses who put in timed workouts.
Undefeated Kentucky Oaks winner Malathaat and Haskell-bound Following Sea led the Pletcher charge, both working over a Belmont Park training track that was labeled good.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Technically, Gustavo Rodriguez had won 18 races as a trainer before Kumar won Sunday’s fourth race at Belmont Park. In reality, though, Sunday's was Rodriguez’s first victory.
Rodriguez, who had served as an assistant to his brother Rudy since the latter became a trainer in 2010, left his brother’s employ about two weeks ago to train on his own. Kumar, a horse Gustavo Rodriguez and his business partner Andrew Gurdon claimed for $30,000 in March 2019, was Rodriguez’s first starter in New York, second overall, since going out on his own.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Max Player, Mystic Guide, and Happy Saver - the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 2 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park - could be headed their separate ways before what their connections hope eventually is a reunion of sorts in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 6.
Max Player recorded the most significant victory of his career in the Suburban, besting Mystic Guide by a neck over a sloppy main track. Max Player ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.95 and earned a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Thanks to owner-trainer Glen Todd, the Hastings meet will continue to at least Aug. 31. The meet is scheduled to run through Oct 25, but until Todd stepped in with a $1 million interest-free loan, there was not enough purse money to keep the meet going past Aug. 2.
“This is great news and the first step in extending our season into the fall,” said Dave Milburn, president of the local Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “Our thanks go to Glen for stepping up the plate.”
Purses at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., will be raised across the board beginning July 17, and three live racing dates will be added to the calendar after the state legislature approved a $2.5 million supplemental appropriation for Thoroughbred purses in the state.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Vigilantes Way, dominant winner of the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park on June 20, will step into Grade 1 company next time when she runs in the $500,000 Diana Stakes on July 17 at Saratoga.
Among those pointing to the Diana are Althiqa and Summer Romance, who ran one-two in the Grade 1 Just a Game for Godolphin Racing and trainer Charlie Appleby.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The field for Monday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes underwent some revision – and could still undergo more – before it was drawn on Friday with a field of five.
With the field losing a couple of players – most notably Following Sea and then his stablemate Mahaamel – trainer Shug McGaughey opted to alter course with First Captain. Rather than wait until the Curlin Stakes on July 30 at Saratoga, McGaughey will have First Captain make his stakes debut in the Dwyer, a one-turn mile.
Three-time stakes winner Brickyard Ride worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds on Friday at Santa Anita in preparation for the most prestigious race of his career in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 30 at Del Mar.
The $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs is the leading sprint at the track’s summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over the same course and distance on Nov. 6.
Led by Gamine, the champion female sprinter of 2020, Monday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos has a probable field of seven fillies and mares.
Gamine is unbeaten in two starts this year, including the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 1 at Churchill Downs. Her main rival in the $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes is Edgeway, the sharp winner of the Carousel Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs on April 10 at Oaklawn Park.
Hot Rod Charlie, third in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 and second in the Belmont Stakes on June 5, is on schedule for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 17 at Monmouth Park, while plans have yet to be finalized for Rombauer, winner of the Preakness Stakes on May 15.
Both colts worked Friday at Santa Anita. Hot Rod Charlie worked six furlongs in 1:11.60, while Rombauer worked five furlongs in 1:01.
