SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jorge Abreu, in his fifth year training on his own, is putting together a strong stable and he’s enjoying a solid Saratoga meet, with 6 wins from 18 starters through the first 24 days.
“The horses are running really well,” Abreu said. “I ran a lot of horses at Belmont that weren’t supposed to run, that was the wrong spot, but I just wanted to get them ready for Saratoga.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mark Casse hopes Got Stormy can turn around her 2020 campaign in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave Handicap and, in turn, reverse course on what has been a trying Saratoga meet for the newly elected Hall of Fame trainer.
Entering Thursday’s card, Casse was winless with 28 starters at Saratoga. He has six seconds, four of those coming in stakes.
“It’s not been pretty,” Casse said by phone from Florida. “We’ve been unlucky in a few spots.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Snap Decision, who has become a rising star in the steeplechase division over the past 13 1/2 months, stretched his win streak to seven after cruising to a relatively easy victory in Wednesday’s opening race at Saratoga, the Michael G. Walsh Novice Steeplechase. Snap Decision won off by 5 1/4 lengths under confident handling by jockey Sean McDermott, despite carrying an imposing 165 pounds for 2 3/8 miles over the National fences.
Del Mar raised purses in late July after a successful start to its current summer meeting that began July 10. If business remains strong through closing day on Sept. 7, a top executive of the owners’ organization said the excess funding should be devoted to the track’s autumn meeting, which runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29.
“Unless it’s a crazy high number, it will be rolled forward,” said Greg Avioli, president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California.
The presence of the French imports Miss Extra and Neige Blanche give Saturday’s competitive Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks international depth.
Miss Extra, who recently joined trainer Richard Mandella’s stable, won the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham at about a mile on June 19 at Chantilly for her third consecutive win and was later ninth of 11 at 20-1 in the Group 1 French Oaks at the same course on July 5.
The last stop on the road is within sight. After 44 points-scoring races over 11 months, those desirous of running at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, and their rankings on the points list, are set. As of Wednesday, there were just 21 horses still under consideration for the Derby, with at least two of those not certain to run in the race, leading to the very real possibility that fewer than the maximum of 20 will enter, let alone run.
The New York Racing Association will cut race days at both the Belmont and Aqueduct fall meets due to the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said this week.
On Wednesday, NYRA announced that the Belmont Park fall schedule will consist of 27 days, eight fewer than intended. The meet will begin Sept. 18 – a week later than planned – and run through Nov. 1, with racing conducted mostly four days a week. NYRA did not yet announce a schedule for the Aqueduct fall season.
WHO'S HOT
With the points-scoring races now completed, the order of preference is known for the prospective field for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, and that will be the overriding factor on who moves onto the list. This week, Shirl’s Speight and Winning Impression are the two newcomers. Shirl’s Speight is a 30-1 shot on the line of Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form, with Winning Impression at 50-1, one of eight horses McGee has at that price.
A first-time starter last Friday at Ellis really turned some heads. Inject, from the first crop of the young sire Frosted, earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure – the highest of the meet for a 2-year-old – after being ridden out to a six-length victory in a five-furlong dirt race that went in 57.67 seconds. Julien Leparoux was aboard the filly for owner Louie Wright and trainer Stan Hough.
Inject was produced by the 16-year-old mare Appealing Zophie, making her a half-sister to Tapwrit, the 2017 Belmont Stakes winner, and Ride a Comet, the 2018 Del Mar Derby winner.
Rafael Bejarano, the leading rider at the Runhappy meet at Ellis Park in western Kentucky, will be sidelined until Aug. 28 after undergoing surgery in a Louisville, Ky., hospital last week to have a small non-malignant growth removed from his pancreas.
Bejarano, 38, has been resting comfortably in his Louisville home, said his agent, Julio Espinoza. He has not ridden since Aug. 9.
