There are would-be party crashers to Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. There’s Crazy Beautiful. There’s Clairiere. Solid 3-year-olds with solid, proven resumes. However, the two “C†fillies find themselves relegated to that party-crasher role. That’s courtesy of the two “M†fillies – Malathaat and Maracuja – who hold […]
Tag: Saratoga
From Saratoga and Del Mar, Cross Country Pick 5 Lives Up to Its Name
This week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5 truly lives up to its name, putting out an all-graded stakes wager from Saratoga and Del Mar. The sequence includes three Grade 1s and two Grade 2s from the two tracks, located on opposite ends of the US. As usual, […]
We’ve Seen Got Stormy Pour Past Her Rivals Before
Plucky mare Got Stormy takes on the boys in a Grade 1 race headlining Saratoga’s Saturday card and, yes, this scenario sounds more than a bit familiar. Just change the principals, the surface, and the starring distaff runner, but yes, next verse, similar to the first. Last week, we saw […]
Whitney Day Produces Record Handle, Another Knicks Go Romp
Knicks Go, Bella Sofia and State of Rest enjoyed Grade 1 victories on Saratoga’s Whitney Day card. And the New York Racing Association enjoyed a record, all-sources handle for that Whitney Day card. That record all-sources handle came in at $36,820,234, surpassing last year’s take of $35,796,435 that came without […]
Steve Asmussen Gallops Past North America’s Training Record
Steve Asmussen used Saturday’s Whitney Day at Saratoga as his record-breaking canvas, becoming North America’s winningest Thoroughbred trainer by claiming his 9,446th career race. That leapfrogged the 14-year-old mark of 9,445 set by the late Dale Baird. Stellar Tap did the honors for the Hall of Fame trainer. Owned by […]
The Whitney: Quality Over Quantity Makes This the Year’s Best Race
The cliché “quality over quantity†washes over this year’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga like the wake from Knicks Go’s last race. It floods the zone like Maxfield’s last two outings and Silver State’s last trip around Belmont Park. If you’re going to send only five horses around Saratoga’s […]
Will Bolshoi Ballet Allow O’Brien to say ‘Eight is Enough’ at Saratoga?
Bolshoi Ballet will attempt to rectify an oversight that’s as mystifying as it is counterintuitive by becoming Aidan O’Brien’s first winning horse at Saratoga. It defies logic that O’Brien, Europe’s most decorated trainer and one of the best horsemen in the world, has never sent a horse to the Spa’s […]
Star 3-Year-Old Dayoutoftheoffice Makes it Permanent, Retires Suddenly
Dayoutoftheoffice, one of the best juvenile fillies of 2020 and a Grade 1 winner, retired Wednesday, three days before she was set to run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga. The winner of last year’s Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park, Dayoutoftheoffice just clocked a bullet 59-second […]
Jesus’ Team Puts Himself in the Perfectly Named Stakes Race, the Alydar
That Jesus’ Team is running in a race named after Alydar is rather apt; a case of history going in circles rather than a straight line. First things first, however. Friday’s Alydar, named after the horse who finished second to Affirmed in all three legs of the 1978 Triple Crown, […]
How Strong is This? Life Is Good Returning Against Jackie’s Warrior
It takes a lot to upstage the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, but undefeated Life Is Good facing standout one-turn artist Jackie’s Warrior in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Handicap could be the best race on the Aug. 28 Travers Day card at Saratoga. According to the Daily Racing […]
Even at 34/1, Lexitonian Answers Critics, Validates Trainer’s Expectations
Even when Lexitonian needed easing in a race, Jack Sisterson never eased his expectations. And when his 5-year-old had a bad race, Sisterson knew he wasn’t a bad horse. And, when Lexitonian left the Saratoga starting gate in Saturday’s Grade 1 Vanderbilt Stakes as the biggest price on the board […]
McPeek Files Request for Hearing After Several Entries Denied
Even with the quarantine for Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) lifted on Monday, trainer Kenny McPeek filed a hearing request with the New York State Gaming Commission after several of his horses were denied entry into early-week races at Saratoga. BloodHorse reported that attorney Andrew Mollica filed the request on McPeek’s behalf […]
Dynamic One Was Finally Just That in the Curlin; Travers Likely Next
Yes, Dynamic One’s victory came in a listed stakes, the Curlin. Yes, it came in a 3-year-old race buried in the laundry that is Jim Dandy Weekend at Saratoga – especially with star sophomore Essential Quality headlining. But Friday’s Curlin, which was limited to 3-year-olds who had not won a […]
Cross Country Pick 5 Takes to the Stakes This Week
Four stakes races up and down the graded-stakes ladder highlight this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5. The horizontal exotic once again brings you races from Monmouth Park, Saratoga, and Canada’s Woodbine. The minimum bet for the three-track, five-race wager is 50 cents. The Cross Country Pick […]
Watch the Blue-Blooded Sprinting Talent Clash in the Vanderbilt
The Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes gives you the venerable Whitmore, the ubiquitous Firenze Fire, and the dynamic Mischevious Alex. Enough sprinting talent to throw in a trifecta box at, say, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint this fall at Del Mar. Except that, a few hours after Saratoga turns that […]
Essential Quality Looks Like a Real Jim Dandy Favorite Here
Proving not all graded stakes winners are viewed equally, Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga features five graded stakes winners in the six-horse field. None of them are viewed through the prism of expectations as Essential Quality. The Belmont Stakes champion comes in as the 1/2 favorite in the […]
Budding Superstar Drain the Clock Looks Sweet in the Short Races
The only race Drain the Clock lost this year came the only time he went two turns. You may have noticed this hiccup, since it came in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on the Kentucky Derby trail last winter. But while you paid attention to Triple Crown trail stalwarts […]
Temperamental, Cranky Champion Whitmore Returns to Saratoga
Whitmore is the equine version of your cranky uncle; the one who tells the great stories when he’s not telling the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. And while this creates a special brand of headache for trainer Ron Moquett, it also comes with built-in aspirin for those headaches. […]
Sisterson Ready to Spring Another Trap With Channel Cat
By now, the sight of a Jack Sisterson horse in a New York graded stakes race – like Channel Cat in Saturday’s Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes — should send alarm bells ringing in the heads of his competitors. While Sisterson doesn’t carry the high profile of a Todd Pletcher […]
Talented, Barely Tested Masqueparade Ready for His Jim Dandy Close-Up
Masqueparade is a graded-stakes winner who impressively captured his last three races, turned away two Kentucky Derby horses, and who has more than a hint of the flavor du jour about him. And yet, trainer Al Stall Jr. has no illusions about what awaits his Ohio Derby winner in Saturday’s […]