Weekend Lineup: Enable, Maximum Security Return To Racing

TVG will be live on site at Del Mar covering a loaded weekend of racing featuring seven stakes races from Friday through Sunday including the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap, which will feature 2019 Eclipse Award winner Maximum Security in his first start since joining the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

On Saturday morning, international racing fans can also tune into TVG to watch champion Enable (GB) make a bid for a historic third win in the Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes from Ascot. The race is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. ET. The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes is part of the “Win and You're In” Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and the winner will earn an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

TVG will also be broadcasting racing from Gulfstream Park, Laurel Park, Monmouth Park and more all weekend.

Saratoga Live, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning television program, will feature more than 210 hours of live programming from Saratoga, which runs through September 7. Saratoga Live will appear each racing day beginning at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports and MSG Networks and offer full-card coverage of a Saratoga meet offering. The daily schedule can be found at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

Friday July 24

5:46 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on FS2

A field of eight sophomore colts will assemble for the 11th running of the Quick Call going 5 ½ furlongs over the Mellon turf. Trainer Doug O'Neill will send out three-time stakes winner Fore Left for as he searches for his first triumph on grass. The bay son of Twirling Candy last raced when finishing a distant ninth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes to Tiz the Law, which came after a victory in the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. Fore Left has recorded one start over grass, which came in the Grade 3 Cecil DeMille on December 1 at Del Mar at the distance of one mile.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SAR072420USA9-EQB.html

Saturday July 25

2:03 p.m.—$125,000 Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine on TVG

A key prep on the road to this year's Queen's Plate, the 1 1/16-mile main track Marine has attracted some noteworthy Canadian-breds hoping for a spot in the Plate starting gate. John Oxley's homebred Lucky Curlin chases his second straight win, this time in the Marine, after a sharp score on June 14 at Woodbine. The Mark Casse trainee, in his ninth career start and first test on the Toronto oval Tapeta, rallied from fifth at the stretch call of the seven-furlong race to win by a length under Kazushi Kimura.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO072520CAN3-EQB.html

2:18 p.m.—$200,000 Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on FS2

Champion Sistercharlie (IRE) will kick off her 2020 campaign in the 32nd running of the Ballston Spa for older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles over the Mellon turf course. Trained by Chad Brown and owned by Peter Brant, Sistercharlie has put together a sensational record that includes seven Grade 1 triumphs while boasting $3,662,003 in lifetime earnings. In 2018, the daughter of Myboycharlie (IRE) earned the Eclipse Award for Champion Turf Female after winning all four of her Grade 1 efforts that year. She has not raced since November, finishing third to Iridessa (IRE) in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SAR072520USA3-EQB.html

4:53 p.m.—$125,000 Grade 3 Selene Stakes at Woodbine on TVG

Ten Broeck Farm's Owlette, a bay daughter of Frac Daddy, goes after her fourth Woodbine stakes crown in the Selene. The Wesley Ward trainee took last year's Shady Well and Victorian Queen, and then added another stakes title to her record with a win in this year's Star Shoot on June 13. Owlette will be tested by six other rivals, including the Casse trio of American Tap, Diamond Sparkles, and Two Sixty.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO072520CAN8-EQB.html

6:16 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course on FS1

Six-time graded stakes-winner Whitmore will return to historic Saratoga Race Course for the first time since winning the 2018 Grade 1 Forego when the veteran son of Pleasantly Perfect looks to notch his third consecutive victory in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt on Saturday. Whitmore enters the Vanderbilt off back-to-back wins in the Hot Springs – which he captured for the fourth consecutive time – and a three-quarter length score last out in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint in April at Oaklawn Park. Among those he will face is Mr. Amore Stable's Firenze Fire, who has four wins in his last five starts dating to November.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SAR072520USA10-EQB.html

9 p.m.—$150,000 Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar on TVG

The likely favorite in the $150,000 San Clemente is Gary Barber's Laura's Light, a bay daughter of Constitution who has won four of her six lifetime starts and comes into the turf test off a tally in the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita on May 30. Laura's Light's chief rivals appear to be a pair of stakes winners in Benjamin and Sally Warren's Warren's Showtime, who'll be handled by regular rider Jorge Velez, and the Florida shipper Cheermeister, who is owned by Teresa and David Palmer and gets the saddle services of Victor Espinoza.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR072520USA9-EQB.html

9:30 p.m.—$150,000 Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on TVG

The presence of champion Maximum Security didn't deter the connections of six other horses from entering for the 79th running of the 1 1/16-mile main track event that has often served as a stepping stone to the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. Maximum Security, a 4-year-old son of New Year's Day, enters the race with eight wins in 10 starts and earnings of $11.8 million dollars. Last year the bay colt was first under the wire before becoming the first disqualification in Kentucky Derby history, but posted three subsequent wins to secure the Eclipse Award as 3-year-old champion. In his only 2020 start, Maximum Security won the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup on February 29 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR072520USA10-EQB.html

Sunday July 26

4:23 p.m.—$125,000 Grade 3 Seagram Cup Stakes at Woodbine on TVG

Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes winner Skywire, runner-up Avie's Flatter, and third-place finisher Mr Ritz will reunite when they square off in Sunday's Seagram Cup Stakes. Trainer Josie Carroll will look to win her second straight Seagram crown when she sends out a pair of multiple stakes winners in Avie's Flatter and Mr Ritz, who took last year's running of the 1 1/16-mile main track race for three-year-olds and upward. The graded stakes victors meet up again with four-year-old Skywire, the Mark Casse trainee who pulled off a 17-1 upset in the Eclipse on July 4 at Woodbine.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO072620CAN7-EQB.html

5:46 p.m.—$150,000 Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga Race Course on FS2

Harrell Ventures' two-time stakes winner Halladay has done nothing but improve in his last two starts and will attempt to maintain his good form when taking on five others, including four stakes winners, in Sunday's 61st running of the Bernard Baruch for 3-year-olds and upward over the inner turf. Trained by Todd Pletcher, who saddled Dominus to a Bernard Baruch score in 2012, Halladay arrives at Sunday's test off a gate-to-wire triumph in the Sunshine Forever over a firm turf at Gulfstream Park, where he registered a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure over eventual Grade 1-winner Aquaphobia and stablemate Social Paranoia, who won the Grade 3 Poker at Belmont Park two starts later.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SAR072620USA9-EQB.html

8:30 p.m.—$200,000 Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar on TVG

Multiple graded stakes winner United aims to keep his recent hot streak going when he heads up a field of seven entered in the Eddie Read Stakes going 1 1/8-miles on the turf. Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, United is 2-for-2 thus far in 2020 having earned victories in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes and the Grade 2 Charlie Whittingham Stakes. The Giant's Causeway gelding has not been worse than third in his last seven starts and fell just a head short of eventual Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Turf.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR072620USA8-EQB.html

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Noms Open for RTCA White Horse Awards

Nominations are now open for The Race Track Chaplaincy of America White Horse Awards, which will be held Breeders’ Cup week, Thursday, Nov. 5 via Facebook Live. The White Horse Award is given to individual(s) who have done something heroic on behalf of human or horse. The Community Service Award is given to individual (s) who have made significant contributions to the welfare of racetrack chaplaincy ministries.

To nominate for The White Horse Award, click here. To nominate for The Community Service Award, click here. For more information, visit https://www.rtcanational.org/events.

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COVID-19: Local Officials Prohibit Arizona Downs From Racing In 2020

Citing concerns for public safety and new state orders restricting gathering in public places, local officials have prohibited Arizona Downs from opening this racing season.

That decision comes in the wake of the COVD-19 pandemic and after weeks of discussions between track operators and state and local officials. Though there were initial hopes of hosting races without spectators, local officials raised additional concerns about adequate spacing in stables and other back-of-the-house operations.

“We were hopeful we would be able to host racing, but understand and respect their decision,” said Tom Auther, an Arizona Downs owner. “Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees, fans, horsemen and jockeys.”

Earlier this year, Arizona Downs applied with the Arizona Racing Commission to host races through September. But after sharp increases in reported COVID-19 cases across the state, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in late June issued an Executive Order prohibiting the gathering of more than 50 people unless authorized by local officials. Prescott Valley officials recently provided formal notice to Arizona Downs that racing will not be allowed.

“We recognize the many difficult decisions our state and local leaders have had to make in recent months and appreciate them keeping safety at the forefront of all decisions,” Auther said. “We look forward to working with each of them to ensure the safe and successful opening of Arizona Downs in 2021.”

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‘Emotional Moment’: Washington Hall Of Fame Jockey Gutierrez Records 2,000th Victory

Washington Hall of Fame Jockey Juan Gutierrez recorded the 2000th win of his riding career Thursday at Emerald Downs, rallying Semi Sweet from last for a $15.60 upset in the opener.

In fact, Gutierrez swept the first three races on the 11-race card and was choked up in a post-race interview with Joe Withee.

“I feel really good, and it's an emotional moment for me,” he said. “Getting 2,000 wins is great, I always try to be consistent. You can't do something like this without the help of the owners, trainers, grooms and everybody else on the backstretch.”

A 50-year-old native of Jalisco, Mexico, Gutierrez has 1,388 wins at Emerald Downs and is only 31 wins away from equaling Gallyn Mitchell's all-time track record 1,419 wins.

A study in consistency, Gutierrez notched his first Emerald Downs' win April 28, 2000, and during one stretch recorded 13 straight top five finishes in the standings. He captured the 2012 riding title with 117 wins and twice won the Grade 3 Longacres Mile, including a record $122 upset on No Giveaway in 2005.

The 2,000th victory came via a picture-perfect rail-skimming ride, as Semi Sweet overhauled 7 to 5 favorite Gazing past midstretch and drew off by 3 ½ lengths. Gutierrez followed up with victories on Mr. Takahashi ($6.20) and Daffodil Sweet ($3.20) in races two and three, piloting the latter to an easy triumph in the $18,500 allowance feature for fillies and mares.

A 3-year-old Ministers Wild Cat filly, Daffodil Sweet has been awesome in her two starts, scoring by 8 ¾ and 7 ¾ lengths for trainer Chris Stenslie and owners One Horse Will Do Corporation and Steve Shimizu. Thursday, she covered six furlongs in 1:10.62 and powered through the stretch for the victory.

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