Apprentice jockey Keith James Asmussen won for the first time in his riding career Sunday at Lone Star Park. He took the nightcap on Inis Gluaire ($3.20), a half-brother to Woodbine Oaks winner Roan Inish who is trained by his father, Steve Asmussen.
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DEL MAR, Calif. – United is likely to stay on grass, after all.
A day after United’s third straight Grade 2 turf victory on Sunday at Del Mar, trainer Richard Mandella walked back the idea of switching him to dirt for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Aug. 22.
“When I said that, I was thinking it was still a million dollars,” Mandella said Monday. “I don’t mean to snivel at $500,000, but I don’t know that I want to take him out of his game plan for that. Game plan meaning the Breeders’ Cup Turf.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Volatile came out of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap in good order, according to trainer Steve Asmussen, and while the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 7 at Keeneland is his year-end goal, there is not yet a plan mapped to get him there.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tax, the 2019 Jim Dandy winner, worked three furlongs in 36.63 seconds Sunday morning over the Saratoga main track, his first breeze since he finished fifth in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on May 2.
Trainer Danny Gargan said he does not have any plans for Tax, but said he would most likely not be ready to run at this meet.
“He’s only been back a little while,” Gargan said. “We’ll look at Keeneland in the fall.”
Jon Kelly, a prominent horse owner with business interests in broadcasting, banking, and real estate, died Saturday of cancer, Del Mar announced.
Kelly had turned 84 on Friday. Kelly was in hospice care at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., not far from Del Mar racetrack.
A native of California, Kelly was a member of the Board of Directors at Del Mar since 2008. Kelly had a background as the owner of television stations in Sacramento and Seattle, a bank in Sacramento and real estate holdings in northern California.
DEL MAR, Calif. - In her seven-race career, Laura’s Light has won four stakes on turf at distances ranging from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles.
She won her second stakes at a mile as the favorite in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday.
To pad her record this summer, Laura’s Light’s stamina will be tested in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Aug. 22. Laura’s Light won at the distance in the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita on May 30, leading by a length at the eighth pole and holding on for a win by a neck.
DEL MAR, Calif. – In addition to Improbable in the Whitney this coming week and Uncle Chuck perhaps in the Travers the following week, trainer Bob Baffert has two others – Eight Rings and Gamine – readying for expected starts at Saratoga.
Eight Rings, in his final work for the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens six days later, blazed five furlongs in 59.20 seconds Sunday morning at Del Mar in company, with he and workmate McKale tying for the fastest time of 48 drills at the distance.
“He looks good. He got really light on me,” Baffert said of why Eight Rings had a freshening.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The top older females Ce Ce, Fighting Mad, and Hard Not to Love all worked Sunday morning at Del Mar in preparation for the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch one week later.
The race is of particular meaning for the connections of Ce Ce, who is owned by Bo Hirsch, the son of the race’s late namesake. Ce Ce, best known for winning the Apple Blossom earlier this year, worked five furlongs in 1:01 under exercise rider Lidio Barrientos and then had a long, powerful gallop out.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P., a field of six was entered on Sunday in the Shared Belief Stakes, which is part of Del Mar's Saturday card headed by the Bing Crosby and is the last local prep for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Regular rider Mike Smith has the mount on Honor A. P. for trainer John Shirreffs.
