JC / Railbird

Racing Archive

Dettori’s Spa Day

Frankie Dettori’s luggage didn’t make it to Saratoga on Friday, but he eventually did, getting to the track in time to leg up on Tiz Sardonic Joe in race seven after missing his first two rides on the card. In borrowed tack (his pants were lent by Rajiv Maragh, his crop by Julien Leparoux), Dettori rode Tiz Sardonic Joe to second (for purse money only after the horse lost a shoe in the post parade), finishing half a length behind Joes Blazing Aaron, the horse’s older half-brother out of the mare Distorted Blaze. If the Joe Bro exacta didn’t pay off for fans, Aventure Love did in race eight, giving Dettori his first ever career win at Saratoga. He followed up with his second win in race 10 aboard Jet Majesty, both for Wesley Ward, the only trainer to double on opening day. “Hopefully my tack will arrive tomorrow,” Dettori said after the eighth, “otherwise I got to take this lucky one back with me.”

Posted in Racing on July 19, 2014 / Tagged Saratoga

Summer Begins

Saratoga opens today! Hooray! Don’t forget your mortality as you’re joining Tom Durkin in his final, traditional opening call, “And they’re off at Saratoga!” Because, “The Spa may be timeless, but we aren’t.” (I kid, Joe. That’s so true.)

John Pricci keeps up the cheer and mourns the lost: “I have no idea what opening day will be like this time; I am haunted by history.”

Today’s Schuylerville Stakes drew five 2-year-old fillies, which has Bill Finley pondering how to fix the broken juvenile racing calendar. “One solution is to simply give up,” he writes. “Do away with the earlier stakes, save money and replace with them with a couple of allowance races.” Maybe, but it sure seems like if there’s anything trainers want to do less than start 2-year-olds in early season stakes, it’s start them in allowance races, ever. (See: 1, 2.)

International superstar jockey Frankie Dettori makes his Saratoga debut this weekend, but he’ll miss his first couple of rides today due to travel troubles, tweets David Grening. He’ll have about 12 chances for a flying dismount in the winner’s circle before the end of Sunday’s card.

Posted in Racing on July 18, 2014 / Tagged Saratoga

Last Word (This Year)

NYRA’s Martin Panza on why he’s not having conversations about changing the Triple Crown schedule by moving the Belmont Stakes into July:

“Right now if you look at the Triple Crown, a month or three weeks before the Derby is when the preps end and there’s really not another big 3 year-old race until a month after the Belmont.

“I’m not sure the rest of the tracks in America would be willing to give us a 4-month break with no big 3-year-old races and that’s what you would be asking for. I just don’t see how that could happen.

“It’s a much more complex situation than just those three races …

“And anything I do at Belmont, I’m also very conscious of not wanting to affect Saratoga. I’m trying to complement Saratoga, not hurt Saratoga.”

Posted in Racing on July 17, 2014 / Tagged Belmont Stakes, Martin Panza, NYRA, Racing Calendar, Saratoga, The Glamour Division, Triple Crown