The upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend is traditionally one of the busiest in North American horse racing, and this year is no exception as major stakes races are scheduled at several tracks spanning the U.S.
Author: News
Eda Extends Win Streak to Seven in Rancho Bernardo Handicap
Baoma Corp's Eda, a fast 4-year-old filly who has made a strong habit of winning everything in sight, captured her seventh consecutive race Sunday at Del Mar in taking down the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap by 1 1/2 lengths.
With leading rider Juan Hernandez at the controls for trainer Bob Baffert, Eda, a daughter of the fast horse Munnings, kept her streak alive by covering the 6 1/2 -furlong distance in 1:16.49. She sat second for most of the trip, then accelerated at the top of the lane and never looked anything but a winner.
Eda was the 4-5 favorite in the $126,000 headliner and she returned $3.60 to her backers and $75,000 to her bank account. She now has total earnings of $667,600 off a record that shows eight victories and a second in 10 starts. It was the fifth time in a row that Hernandez has been aboard her for a score.
Keith Abrahams' Kirstenbosch was second, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Cerin or Cady, et al's Princess Adaleigh. Eda carried 124 pounds under the handicap conditions, three more than the runner-up.
The track's popular Pick 6 wager once again couldn't be solved and the jackpot carryover to next Thursday's pool will start at $324,789. First post that day for an eight-race card is 2 p.m.
JUAN HERNANDEZ (Eda, winner) – “She came out of there well and was running OK. When we went past the five-eighths (pole), she relaxed. That was good. Then when we got near the head of the stretch, I ask her and she goes. She's a nice one. I should tell Bob (trainer Baffert) I want to ride ones like this all the time.”
BOB BAFFERT (Eda, winner) – “She's solid. This is the distance she likes. She's very competitive and some horses they know how to win. I had a filly, Silverbulletday, who won like 10 in a row so you're lucky to have fillies like this. I wanted to see my other filly, Home Cooking, up on the pace. I thought she'd run really well.”
FREACTIONS: :21.74 :45.07 1:10.06 1:16.49
The stakes win the fourth of the meet for rider Hernandez. It is also the fourth of the meet for trainer Baffert.
This is the second victory in the Rancho Bernardo (Edgeway in 2022) for jockey Hernandez and his 37th overall at Del Mar.
This is the third victory in the Rancho Bernardo for trainer Baffert and his 160th overall, which is far in front of all other trainers. (Next nearest is John Sadler who has 85.)
The winner is owned by Baoma Corp, which is the nom du course for Charles Chu of North Andover, MA.
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Mouffy Lands Ellis Park Turf With Late Surge In Stakes Debut
Augustin Stable's homebred Mouffy made a bold late rally to pass favored Lovely Princess in deep stretch to win Sunday's $125,000 Ellis Park Turf for fillies and mares.
Mouffy is trained by Jonathan Thomas and was piloted by Emmanuel Esquivel. The Ellis Park Turf was Mouffy's first stakes victory. She completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.46.
It was a good start to the Ellis Park Turf Stakes as Sahlabiya inherited the lead from the rail. Mouffy sat fourth in the early stages and saved ground through an opening quarter mile in :24.50. Up the backside, Sahlabiya continued to the lead the field through a moderate half-mile in :48.96. Esquivel kept Mouffy to the inside around the far turn while 7-5 favorite Lovely Princess made a three-wide bid at the quarter pole.
At the top of the stretch, Esquivel tipped Mouffy to the two-path as she began to pass the tiring pacesetters. At the eighth pole, Mouffy dove inside of Lovely Princess and pushed clear to a one-length victory. Bipartisanship rallied from the back of the pack to round out the top three.
Kentucky-bred Mouffy is a 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo out of the Smart Strike mare Truly Together. Her record stands at 4-1-0 from six career starts and purse earnings of $207,920.
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‘No Evidence’ of Issues with Tracks, According to NYRA’s O’Rourke
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY. – In the wake of two fatal breakdowns during the Travers day program Saturday, New York Racing Association officials faced the questions of if they should immediately cancel the remaining races on the card at Saratoga Race Course and whether to run on Sunday. After fact-finding sessions both days, NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke said the courses were deemed safe for competition–the jockeys were in agreement–and racing continued as scheduled.
The catastrophic leg injuries that led to two horses being euthanized Saturday brought the total of equine deaths to 12 since the start of the unusually rainy season July 13. According to the New York State Gaming Commission's Breakdown, Death, Injury and Incident Database, four of the fatalities were related to training injuries and eight to racing. Six of the eight deaths were from incidents in races run on the turf courses. Seven were musculoskeletal injuries and one was believed to be a heart attack.
The two dirt breakdowns were horrific, taking place in the stretch, with unbeaten, high-profile 3-year-old horses well on their way to victories in seven-furlong Grade I races: Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) in the GI Test S. on Aug. 5 and New York Thunder (Nyquist) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday.
In the minutes after the New York Thunder injury, O'Rourke said NYRA had to consider whether to immediately close on the biggest day of the Saratoga season.
“Everything is going through your mind at that point,” he said.
After consulting with his staff and a number of other people, O'Rourke elected to run the remainder of the card, including the $1.25-million GI Travers S.
“I was speaking with the Gaming Commission at the same time, the stewards at the same time, about the situation that we're in,” he said. “Obviously, there's board members here. Many of them, if not most of them, are horsemen. The decision was made to continue the card because we have no evidence that there's anything going on with these racetracks.”
There were no further injuries.
After what he described as a sleepless night, O'Rourke said that he and Glen Kozak, NYRA executive vice president and track superintendent, started talking with trainers at 6:30 a.m. Sunday and later talked with jockeys and veterinarians. At 12:45 p.m., NYRA announced that the 11-race program would be held.
John Velazquez, co-chairman of the Jockeys Guild, said the riders met with O'Rourke and expressed confidence in the conditions.
“We didn't find any issues at all,” Velazquez said. “The tracks feel safe. We didn't come up with anything that we were concerned with.”
Velzaquez acknowledged that the injuries are unsettling and said that NYRA should continue its reviews.
“We've definitely had some really horrendous breakdowns,” he said. “We are very saddened about it. There are going to be more investigations and more things we have to do and hopefully we find more answers. It will be days or weeks, whatever it is, but right now the tracks feel safe and let's continue.”
Saturday, Nobel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), an Irish-bred 4-year-old was injured in the gallop-out after the fifth race on turf. Two hours and 20 minutes later, New York Thunder broke bones in his left front leg in the Jerkens.
Immediately after Nobel's injury, O'Rourke said he, staff members and Dr. Scott Palmer, the Equine Medical Director for the Gaming Commission walked the turf course to look for problems. Since more than 11 inches of rain have fallen during the meet, prompting NYRA to move 59 races off the grass to the dirt, the rail has been placed far out in the middle of the course. On Saturday, the rails were down and the horses were running on very good turf. Still, Nobel was injured.
“We wanted to take a look at it,” O'Rourke said. “One easy solution was to pull everything off the turf. They were on fresh ground. I'm out there with experts and what I'm looking for is unanimous consensus. Not a majority. Everyone's consensus of opinion was that the turf course was in immaculate condition in the lanes we were in.”
When New York Thunder went down between the eighth pole and the sixteenth pole, O'Rourke said Kozak reviewed the surface.
“Glen installed this track and is quite familiar with moisture and the measurements and everything,” O'Rourke said. “It's nothing off about the track. I'm convinced, I'm confident in that moment of that, but I want more information. Sometimes you need more time. We made the decision to continue the card.”
Afterward, O'Rourke said the NYRA staff continued to look at the two turf courses and the dirt main track to help develop data that could be useful in Sunday's review
“This has been a tough meet, so this has been a topic,” he said. “It's not like all of a sudden we started taking a second look. After racing, the track guys are doing their thing. Some of them, I think, were here all night.”
Sunday's card was completed without incident, but O'Rourke said the investigation is far from complete. Noting that NYRA is a non-profit, he said continuing to race on Saturday and Sunday was not related to revenue, but to safety.
“This is about how do we get it right, when and how we're making decisions and why,” he said. “And my first job right now is to check off the tracks because that's the question I'm getting quite a bit. I came out of that, on that aspect, confident that every piece of information or resource that I think is applicable, that we have access to, is telling me the same thing.”
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