Vittorio caught trainer Simon Callaghan’s attention last month with a one-furlong workout in 9.4 seconds prior to the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.
The fast breeze led owner Kaleem Shah to pay $750,000 for the colt, one of the most expensive prospects at the four-day sale.
Callaghan’s enthusiasm has not waned in advance of Vittorio’s debut in a maiden special weight race at five furlongs Saturday at Del Mar.
Del Mar has retroactively raised overnight purses 10 percent from the start of the summer meeting on July 10, restoring most of a reduction made earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The purse increase was announced on Thursday, made possible by strong handle from account-wagering sources. Through Monday, the seventh day of the season, total all-sources handle was $133.8 million compared to $126.9 million in the first 11 days of the 2019 summer meeting, track president Josh Rubinstein said earlier this week.
The Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and the Springboard Mile for 2-year-olds will be the co-richest races for the Remington Park meet, the Oklahoma City track announced Wednesday.
Each race is worth $200,000. Last year, the stakes were worth $400,000 apiece, but due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic Remington has had to reduce some of its stakes purses.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Shivaree, who ran second to Tiz the Law in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in March, arrived here from South Florida on Tuesday and is being pointed to a rematch with Tiz the Law in the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes on Aug. 8.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mother Mother will try turf for the first time when she runs in Saturday’s $200,000 Caress Stakes for fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs. The Caress will go as the finale on Saturday’s 12-race card.
Mother Mother, a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile trained by Bob Baffert, is 3 for 14 on dirt. On Sunday, she worked a sharp half-mile in 48 seconds on the Oklahoma turf.
The Governor’s Cup Futurity for California-bred Quarter Horses has become a family affair in recent seasons at Los Alamitos.
Last Saturday, the half-brothers Constituent and Squid Word finished first and second in the $315,000 race at 350 yards. In 2019, the full brothers Pitbull and Lebowski finished first and ninth in the Governor’s Cup Futurity.
Full or half-siblings appear in the same race with some frequency in Quarter Horse racing, which permits registration of multiple foals out of a mare in the same year through embryo transfers.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mischevious Alex finished fourth to No Parole in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park on June 20. It took more than two weeks, but trainer John Servis may have found a reason for the poor performance.
A few days after Mischevious Alex had his first breeze back, Servis’s blacksmith cut out two bruises from the frogs, or the bottom of the horse’s front feet.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Channel Maker, who dead-heated for win in the 2018 Bowling Green, will take on a pair of runners from the barn of Mike Maker in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes at 1 3/8 miles at Saratoga.
Channel Maker, trained by Bill Mott, hasn’t won since taking the Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont in May 2019. He is coming out of a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan, beaten just one length by winner Instilled Regard.
The Grade 1 winner and millionaire Math Wizard is settled in at Saratoga and has a couple of options for his next start, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., said Wednesday. The horse is a candidate for that track’s Woodward, or the Charles Town Classic.
Math Wizard shipped from his Gulfstream Park base to Monmouth earlier this month and finished second in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup on July 18. For the effort he equaled his career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
“He ran well,” Joseph said. “We could go to the Charles Town Classic. If not, we’ll stay at Saratoga for the Woodward.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After briefly flirting with the idea of a cross-country trip for Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, the connections of Point of Honor ultimately opted to stay home for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga.
That means a date with Midnight Bisou, the top older female in training who is coming off an 8 1/4 length victory in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 27 and who won the Personal Ensign here last summer.
