DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert is not winning all the maiden races for 2-year-olds at Del Mar this summer.
Last Saturday, Intrepido, trained by Jeff Mullins, led throughout a maiden race for 2-year-olds at a mile to join the list of candidates for two-turn stakes this fall. Intrepido ($6.80) ran a mile in 1:35.71, earning a highly respectable Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
“We knew he was a two-turn horse all along,” Mullins said after the race.
Spirit of Makena, who pulled up with a suspensory injury in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar last Saturday, underwent successful surgery earlier this week to stabilize the injured leg, trainer George Papaprodromou said.
Papaprodromou, however, warned that the next week is vital to Spirit of Makena’s recovery.
“Everything went well,” Papaprodromou said. “He’s here at the barn standing. It’s a matter of time. So far, so good.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rated by Merit, who went 4 for 4 and swept the Florida Stallion Series as a 2-year-old when in the barn of Michael Yates, is now with trainer Chad Brown.
Rated by Merit’s four victories came at Gulfstream Park by a combined 25 3/4 lengths, including a 3 3/4-length win in the Affirmed that earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure . He was sidelined in January due to mild bone bruising.
Since being transferred to Brown by owner Vinnie Viola, Rated by Merit has had four works – all in the month of August – and is being pointinged to a fall return.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With Mindframe and Antiquarian running in Sunday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Fierceness starting in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, Pletcher has Locked aiming for the Grade 2, $300,000 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct on Sept. 27.
Pletcher pointed out that last fall, when returning from a length layoff, Locked won an allowance race and the Grade 2 Cigar Mile over Aqueduct’s main track.
Cabo Spirit is not a one-dimensional turf miler.
Though dangerous when allowed to set the pace, Cabo Spirit finished a game third as a stalker in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 26. In his lone start this summer, Cabo Spirit set a slow pace in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar on July 27 and nearly pulled off a minor upset at 6-1, finishing second by a length to Formidable Man.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While most will focus on Mindframe in Sunday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, trainer Todd Pletcher said it would be a mistake to overlook his other entrant in the race, Antiquarian.
Mindframe is 3 for 3 this year and coming off two Grade 1 victories. He will likely vie for favoritism in the Gold Cup with Sierra Leone, who finished second to Mindframe in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 28 before winning the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 2.
Mister Omaha is scheduled to make his next start in the $250,000 Super Derby on Sept. 6 at Louisiana Downs, according to his trainer, Joe Offolter. Entries for the 1 1/8-mile race will be taken Saturday.
Mister Omaha is one of the top 3-year-olds based at Remington Park. He has been working over the Oklahoma City strip since finishing third to Magnitude in the Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows.
“I thought he ran good last time,” Offolter said. “We just hooked a bear.”
The role of favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar may not be known until post time.
When post positions were drawn Tuesday for the $1 million race, Nysos was made the 8-5 favorite by track linemaker John Lies, with Journalism at 9-5 and Fierceness at 3-1.
After running at five different tracks since May, trainer Henry Walters will finally get a chance to bring Maryland-bred gelding Barbadian Runner home to Laurel Park and keep him there. After a short rest, Walters plans to enter the 3-year-old on Maryland Million Day in October.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y – Jockey John Velazquez begins closing week serving a three-day careless-riding suspension for his Aug. 17 ride in the sixth race, where he was disqualified from first aboard Scope and placed second.
Velazquez began serving the days on Sunday and will miss Wednesday and Thursday.
