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Grade 1 winner Iron Orchard flexed her class with a dominant return to winning form in Friday's black-type, $200,000 Fleet Indian Stakes , a 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-old New York-bred fillies at Saratoga. Owned by KatieRich Stables, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen and piloted by Jos Ortiz, the Authentic dark bay successfully stretched in distance following off-the-board efforts at…
The biggest day of the Del Mar season is Saturday, with the Grade 1 Pacific Classic headlining an 11-race card that includes three other graded stakes. It's a day so big that Mike Shutty not only did all 11 races for this week's Super Screener but also will be on the simulcast feed as the guest handicapper. Subscribe to Super Screener and get full-card selections for Pacific Classic day at Del Mar…
Godolphin's Kentucky homebred horse of the year Sovereignty returned to the work tab on Friday on the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga for the first time since his stirring 4 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 8, covering a half-mile in 49.85 seconds in company with Thunder Roll (49.40) for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Guided through the exercise by assistant trainer Neil…
Angel Quiroz, the trainer involved with eight horses who may have been involved in an international wagering coup as well as a ninth horse who tested positive for albuterol while training at the same time and location as the coup d'octet, will leave Fair Hill Training Center within a month. Will Phipps, executive director for Fair Hill in Elkton, Md., said that Quiroz's lease expires in a couple…
The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation overturned a hearing officer's recommendation and denied a request by Maria Borell for a trainer's license. The voice vote was unanimous except for the abstention of commissioner Michael Dudgeon. The commission discussed the case in closed session though the vote was in open session and also livestreamed via YouTube. In June, Clayton Patrick, deputy…
The stage is set for the 36th running of the richest race in the west, the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic . Among the field of 11 and making the journey across the Pacific is Finger , a 3-year-old son of Gun Runner who has already captured the first two legs of Japan's dirt Triple Crown. Raced exclusively in Japan throughout his career, Finger now looks to take on the local competition and…
Trainer Wesley Ward has globetrotting plans for Bacio after the 3-year-old colt led the whole way Friday to win the Group 1, US$817,557 Nunthorpe Stakes going a straight five furlongs on the turf at the Ebor Festival in York, England. "I thought he ran like the fastest horse in the world," Ward told Horse Racing Nation from Saratoga. "It was so exciting." Already a winner this year at Royal Ascot,…
Irad Ortiz Jr. will be off his mounts "until further notice" because of a foot injury he suffered before a race Aug. 8. Ortiz had planned to return to race riding this weekend at Saratoga, with mounts including Counting Stars in the Grade 1 Alabama . But, according to a report by David Grening of Daily Racing Form , his agent Steve Rushing said breezing a horse Friday morning was "too painful" for…
Caldera led all performers on Thursday with a 130 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in a dirt mile allowance win at Colonial Downs. The 4-year-old Liam's Map colt, trained by Saffie Joseph, was the 1-5 favorite in a field of six. He stalked the pace and took command in the lane to win by 2 3/4 lengths. The win was his third in a row and his fourth in nine career starts. Grande Sorpreso earned a 127…
The question is like a mantra during Kentucky Derby week. How are these 3-year-olds going to get that extra sixteenth or eighth of a mile that they never have raced before? J nior Alvarado heard it before he rode Sovereignty last year at Churchill Downs, and that worked out just fine. Now he is hearing it about 5-year-old Knightsbridge , the favorite for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic…
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Inaugurated in 1991, the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic has consistently attracted top runners to Southern California. The 1 1/4-mile race is the centerpiece of the Del Mar summer meet and has been won by numerous champions over the first 35 runnings. This year's edition features Knightsbridge , who has three graded-stakes victories this year, including a romp in the…
The 2-5 morning line on Counting Stars pretty much tells the tale of how much the two-time Grade 1 winner towers over her five rivals in the Alabama Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga. The good news is there is likely opportunity within the race thanks for the New York Racing Association morning line maker David Aragona projecting that the public will make My Gun's Loaded and Measure both underlays.…
The Pacific Classic , Del Mar's signature Grade 1, $1 million race, is the main topic of conversation this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Ryan Anderson and Jackson Muniz from the Gallop Out podcast check in to talk about this weekend's big race as well as the Del Mar summer and handicapping trends that have developed through the season. Jockey J nior Alvarado discusses his upcoming ride on…
The Grade 1 Pacific Classic has been a coming-out party of sorts for some of the sport's biggest names the last 11 years: Beholder was breathtaking when defeating males in 2015, and Flightline passed his distance test in 2022 when winning like Secretariat did in the Belmont Stakes. Is it Knightsbridge 's turn on Saturday at Del Mar? Maybe so! With apologies to Ghostzapper, I cannot help but think…
Napoleon Solo , the two-time Grade 1 winner, breezed four furlongs in 47.6 at Saratoga on Thursday morning. It was the fastest of 41 works at the distance. This marked his third timed work since his last race. Trainer Chad Summers has not confirmed him for the $1.25 million Travers (G1) on Aug. 29, but the colt appears headed there rather than to the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx on Sept. 19.…
Preparations continued for the field of 11 expected to head to the gate Saturday for the 36th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Most of the final works were completed over the weekend so now it's galloping, schooling and keeping the participants happy to race day. Unless you're in Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella's barn, then you get a blowout in the middle of the…
Prairie Meadows and the Iowa Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association agreed to raise all Thoroughbred overnight purses by $1,500, beginning with races Saturday, Aug. 22 and running through the end of the 2026 season. The increase lifts the bottom-level purse for Thoroughbred overnight races to $13,500 and the top-level purse for open company races to $41,500. Iowa-registered overnight…
Odds-on favorite Kalpana survived a late scare from stubborn long shot Sparan Nua, holding on to win Thursday in a wet renewal of the Group 1, US$818,025 Yorkshire Oaks covering about 1 1/2 miles of good to soft turf at York, England. The victory in the race for fillies and mares, 3 and up, completed a double for breeder-owner Juddmonte, trainer Andrew Balding and jockey Colin Keane in the first…
Ever since Bacio turned his Royal Ascot debut into a post-to-post procession, the U.S.-trained speedball has dominated discussion ahead of Friday's Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York. That impressive British bow was against fellow 3-year-olds in June's Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes. He now competes in one of Europe's most prestigious all-aged Group 1 sprints, but the style of his Ascot triumph…
A federal bankruptcy judge in Chicago reportedly rejected a call from Hawthorne executives to have federal marshals force the last humans and horses out of stable area by next Friday, three days before the deadline on eviction notices. According to BloodHorse , judge Timothy Barnes ordered lawyers from Hawthorne and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association to show him exactly how the last…
If not for a stubborn half-length two years ago, Full Serrano would be in pursuit Saturday of his second victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. By trainer John Sadler's reckoning, Full Serrano should be trying to make it two wins in a row, period. "If you look at his last race, he got completely left at Oaklawn," Sadler said Wednesday. "He should have won the race, pretty…
Classic Q , unraced since winning the Grade 1 Just a Game on June 6, and Silent Tactic , who missed the Triple Crown but returned to finish third in the Jim Dandy (G2), both worked Wednesday morning for trainer Mark Casse. Four-year-old Classic Q, who won the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile before the Just a Game, breezed four furlongs in 49.59 seconds on dirt at Saratoga, 18th fastest of 28 at the…
