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Monday, August 2, 2010
Contact: NYRA Press Office
(518) 584-6200, ext. 4237
- Pletcher looks ahead with Super Saver,
- Quality Road gate-schools for Whitney
- Winslow Homer to miss Travers
- Mambo Meister blows out for A.G. Vanderbilt
- Get Stormy emerges from Fourstardave in good shape
- Dry Martini returns in John’s Call
- International jockey competition takes center stage at Ascot (
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Super Saver – the Kentucky Derby winner who finished fourth in yesterday’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, missing third by just a nose – will make his next appearance in the 141st running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers at Saratoga .
“I thought it was a pretty good performance, but he did get tired during the last part,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “We’re looking forward to the Travers.”
The Haskell was the first start for Super Saver following his eighth-place performance in the Grade 1 Preakness on May 15.
Pletcher added that Malibu Prayer, who yesterday earned her first Grade 1 victory when she won the Ruffian Invitational, exited the race in good shape.
“We felt like she was a filly who had shown Grade 1 ability,” said Pletcher.
One race under consideration for the Edward P. Evans homebred is the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on August 29.
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Quality Road had a special schooling session on the main track Monday morning at Saratoga Race Course, working with the NYRA gate crew in front of the grandstand as part of his preparations for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap.
The 4-year-old Elusive Quality colt behaved perfectly with jockey John Velazquez aboard as he was loaded into the starting gate and backed out several times, both alone and in company with two other Todd Pletcher-trained horses.
“It’s just a safety net,” said Pletcher, who trains the nation’s top older male for Edward P. Evans. “It’s going to be a little different environment [in the 1 1/8th mile Whitney] starting in front of the grandstand, and we want to cover all bases.”
Quality Road will be seeking his fourth straight victory in the Whitney.
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Winslow Homer, nine-length winner of Sunday’s $70,000 Curlin Stakes, will not make the 141st running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on Saturday, August 28, after having been diagnosed with a condylar fracture of his left foreleg.
According to trainer Tony Dutrow, who trains Winslow Homer for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm, the colt will probably have a screw inserted to stabilize the fracture and could return to racing next year.
“We're anticipating he'll come back,” said Dutrow. “It's a pretty simple procedure.”
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Mambo Meister, third in last year’s Fourstardave and fifth in the Bernard Baruch on the Spa’s turf, had his final blowout this morning for Sunday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, covering three furlongs in 36.11.
With jockey Kent Desormeaux up, the move was the fourth-fastest of 16 at the distance on the main track.
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In his only start at under a mile, Mambo Meister, a 5-year-old King Cugat gelding, finished a closing second to Big Drama in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder on July 10.
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Sullimar Stable’s Get Stormy seems to have emerged from his front-running triumph in Sunday’s Grade 2 Fourstardave in good order, trainer Tom Bush said Monday.
“He’s doing very well,” Bush said. “He seemed a little tired this morning, but he ate all of his dinner last night and came back all in one piece.”
With the Breeders’ Cup on the horizon for the son of Stormy Atlantic, Bush said he wanted to choose the colt’s next start with care.
“I haven’t thought about it yet, but I’m planning to sit down this week and really look at the options and the timeline. His race yesterday was probably a lifetime best effort and I don’t want to run him back too soon.”
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Friday’s $70,000 John’s Call Stakes at 1 5/16th miles on the turf features the return of multiple graded stakes winner Dry Martini in a race which also drew the top three finishers from the 2009 edition.
Dry Martini, who won last year’s Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at
Edgar Prado will get the mount on Dry Martini, who will start from post position No. 5 as he returns to the turf, where he finished second to Formal Decree in the Strawberry Burrah at
In last year’s John’s Call, Solitaire made a strong run in the stretch to finish ahead of Southwest by three-quarters of a length, and trainer H. James Bond is hoping for a repeat of that performance.
“I think he has matured more,” said Bond of Solitaire. “He’s more seasoned, and more settled. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
Solitaire drew post position 3 while
Runner-up Southwest is one of four horses on the also-eligible list, along with Rockin’ Joe, Thabazimbi, and Romp. Rounding out the field are Jade’s Revenge, Attempted Humor, Coolcullen Times, Lime Rickey, Gangbuster, Leading On, and Perfect Shower.
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Top jockeys from Europe, Africa, Asia and
The Shergar Cup is of the more popular events on the British racing calendar, with 30,000 fans annually flocking to Ascot in suburban
The teams for this year’s Shergar Cup are almost finalized, with stars like six-time British champion jockey Kieren Fallon, three-time French champion Christophe Soumillon and five-time Irish champion Pat Smullen signed up for the world’s premier international jockeys team competition.
Soumillon and Smullen will be making their Shergar Cup debuts. All of the Rest of the World jockeys –South African champion Anton Marcus, top Japanese rider Yasunari Iwata, and
Elsewhere in
On Saturday there is also plenty to keep to keep international racing fans happy with the Gr3 Sweet Solera Stakes for two-year-old fillies taking center stage at
UK Racing is simulcast every Wednesday through Saturday during the
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