By Jarrod Horak This was the biggest week at Del Mar so far. The Grade 1 Pacific Classic was the marquee race and Arabian Knight smartly wired the field in that heat, and he gets my star of the week award. Eight other stakes races were run between Sept. 2-4, and the summer meet is […]
By Jarrod Horak The Saratoga summer meet wrapped up earlier today and the stakes schedule ended with a shocking result. Nutella Fella stunned his rivals and paid $111 in the Grade 1 Hopeful. Irad Ortiz Jr. was the leading rider, and the trainer title came down to the final race of the meet. Linda Rice […]
By Jarrod Horak The curtain has come down on the 2023 summer meet at Saratoga. The final two Grade 1 races of the meet were for 2-year-olds, and neither had the result that many were expecting. Brightwork was hardly a big surprise in the Spinaway, but Nutella Fella’s victory in the Hopeful was completely expected […]
By Jarrod Horak I did not have wagering success in the four stakes races at Saratoga on Saturday, Sept. 2, but I was pleased as a racing fan with one outcome in particular. The one performance that really stood out was Thin White Duke’s rallying win in the Harvey Pack Stakes. You cannot help but […]
By Jarrod Horak This is my first of three stakes recaps for the final week of the 2023 Saratoga summer meet. Bill Mott won a pair of juvenile stakes to begin the week, and Chad Brown’s exciting sophomore turf star Carl Spackler (IRE) picked up his second graded stakes win of the summer in the […]
Three year old gelding for Dan Blacker made his 4th career start at a mile on the main Sunday for maiden special weights 3 and up. Off at 5/2 in a field of 9, this son of Arrogate went right to the lead from the five hole under Victor Espinoza and made every pole a […]
Three year old filly for George Papaprodromou was in for the 1st allowance condition on Sunday after breaking her maiden impressively over this turf course 3 weeks ago. However, once her regular rider, Umberto Rispoli, took off all of his mounts Sunday, “Papa” didn’t use good judgement in selecting the veteran Jose Valdivia to ride […]
Four year old gelding for Peter Miller, who he just claimed for $80,000 on July 30, was entered right back at the same price on Sunday. Off as the 6/5 choice under the leading rider, he bobbled and went to his knees in this one mile allowance race and lost about 3 lengths at the […]
By Jarrod Horak Juveniles take center stage in the final two Grade 1 races of the Saratoga 2023 summer meet. Ways and Means makes her much anticipated stakes debut in the Spinaway on Sunday, Sept. 3, and the closing Monday feature is the Hopeful featuring Bob Baffert’s $2 million purchase Muth. Click here for Saratoga […]
Week six is in the books of the eight week summer season at this seaside track with the best racing of the meet still to come. Del Mar will race five days this week with the addition of a Labor Day card on Monday and Saturday is Pacific Classic day with five graded stakes and […]
