SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Officials at Philadelphia Park are considering raising the purse of the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby from $500,000 to $750,000, which has trainer Bobby Frankel considering a change of plans for Haskell winner Peace Rules. The potential purse raise also could give the connections of Funny Cide a back-up plan in case the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner cannot make the Travers on Aug. 23.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though trainer Patrick Biancone had great success early last year with his 2-year-olds, it may have cost him in the fall. Zavata and Whywhywhy were both precocious enough to win stakes in June, but by the Breeders' Cup in October, they were spent.
Hoping to have learned from that experience, Biancone has started his 2-year-olds a little later this year. He'll find out how that program is working when he sends out Pomeroy in Wednesday's Grade 2, $150,000 Saratoga Special at 6 1/2 furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With only half of the season complete, trainer Todd Pletcher equaled the record for most wins at Saratoga meet on Monday when School for Scandal ($4.80) won the day's second race.
It was Pletcher's 24th victory of the meet, equaling the record set by Syl Veitch in 1954 when the meet was 24 days long. Pletcher reached his 24th victory on the 18th day of this 36-day meet. Though Pletcher lost with the remaining three starters on the card, he's a sure bet to eclipse the mark before the meet is through. Pletcher finished the first half of the meet 24 for 66.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Like several others who celebrated her victory on Sunday, Azeri spent the next morning rolling around on the ground. The only difference is that she did not have a hangover. She was just happy to be back home, at San Luis Rey Downs, after spending a few days at Del Mar preparing for the Clement Hirsch Handicap.
"She was rolling around in her sun pen, like she had never had a race," Azeri's trainer, Laura de Seroux, said Monday morning.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Spring Star was a Group 2 winner in her native France and has shown enough promise in her two starts this year for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella to make him believe she might be Grade 1-caliber in this country.
"Give me a couple of days," Mandella said Monday morning. "I think she is. But I'll know better on Wednesday."
So will everyone else. Spring Star will seek her first stakes victory in North America on Wednesday, when she heads a field of nine in the $75,000 Osunitas Handicap, which begins week 4 at Del Mar.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Affirmed Success, one of the most popular horses on the New York circuit for the last several years, has been retired at age 9.
Affirmed Success, a multiple stakes winner with earnings of $2,285,315, had not run since finishing last in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 12. The Kentucky-bred son of Affirmed came out of the Carter with an injury to his right front ankle.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After Whoopi Cat won her career debut last month by six lengths at Belmont Park, she was privately purchased by Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor. She was quick to pay dividends for her new owners on Monday when she won the $150,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course before a crowd of 18,576 on an overcast and occasionally rainy day.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Summer Note has made it back to the races. What remains to be seen is at what level he has returned.
Summer Note's second start back from the second extended layoff of his career comes Wednesday, as Arlington Million week begins. Chicago's only three Grade 1 races, the Million, the Beverly D., and the Secretariat, are Saturday, and already a palpable sense of anticipation has settled over the racetrack.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Painters were out touching up spots inside the grandstand. Floors gleamed under fresh wax. Rows of sprinklers played over the wide swath of lush grass course, and Sulamani came out of his stall for a first look at the Arlington racetrack.
Sulamani's appearance at about 9 a.m. Monday served a fitting signal that the Arlington Million is upon us. Thirteen horses were pre-entered Friday for the 21st Million, which on Saturday brings together by far the strongest field of horses seen for a turf race in this country this season.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - A wide-open six-furlong sprint feature for 3-year-olds launches the second week of the Bay Meadows Fair on Wednesday.
Azteco De Oro, who drew the rail, appears the one to beat in the $40,000 optional claimer, which drew six entrants.
Cases could also be made for Banker Boy, Tab Cat M.D., and Operatic. Truckee River and Demon Warlock, both returning from a layoff, also make the race intriguing.
