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‘He Has It All’: Volatile Too Quick For Alfred G. Vanderbilt Rivals

Volatile extended an impressive start to his 4-year-old campaign, staying undefeated in 2020 after going to the front and drawing away from the four-horse field in the stretch for a 1 1/4-length win in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Owned by Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds III, Volatile started his 2020 season with a 7 ½-length allowance score in April at Oaklawn before dominating in his first stakes appearance with an eight-length triumph at Churchill Downs in the Aristides on June 6 that netted a 112 Beyer Speed Figure.

Whitmore, the 4-1 second choice, broke through the gate before the start of the race but was quickly pulled up by jockey Joel Rosario. Lexitonian, the longest shot on the board, was subsequently scratched at the gate, and the four-horse field was backed out and then reloaded.

Volatile, who Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen moved up in class, wasn't fazed by the slight delay, going an easy quarter-mile in 23.46 seconds and the half in 46.67 on the fast main track.

Volatile set the pace and kicked on when straightened for home by jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr., repelling Whitmore's inside bid near the top of the stretch before completing six furlongs in a final time of 1:09.61.

The Violence colt improved to 3-for-3 this year and is 5-1-0 in six career starts – all at six furlongs. An $850,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he has won four straight starts and has earned winner's circle trips at four different racetracks.

“He was really on his toes today,” said Santana, Jr., who won two on the card. “Steve gave him a lot of time from his last race and he was feeling great. I was really happy with how he was out there. I'm glad we backed off from the gate again. When we came up [to the gate] he relaxed really well and then I was happy because I could see he was ready to go. The gate opened and he put me in the spot that he wanted, and I was happy, too. Turning for home, he kicked really well.”

The 2-5 favorite, Volatile returned $2.80 on a $2 win wager. He improved his career earnings to $341,040 and gave Asmussen his third career Vanderbilt win, joining Justin Phillip in 2013 and Majesticperfection in 2010.

“We saw the first two races from him this year and they were absolutely brilliant,” Asmussen said. “I feel very good about getting those races into him before he met accomplished horses like this. But from an ability or a speed level, he has it all.”

Asmussen said he was confident Volatile could be stretched out at some point. The conditioner said the plan is to target the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 7 at Keeneland.

“We will discuss it, but we obviously feel the Breeders' Cup is where we want to be with him at the of the year and how we get there from here is going to be the plan,” Asmussen said.

Six-time graded stakes-winner Whitmore finished a half-length in front of Mind Control for second. The Ron Moquett trainee, whose previous Saratoga appearance was a victorious 2018 Grade 1 Forego, was making his first start since winning the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint in April at Oaklawn.

“I was in a good position and he was enjoying everything in there,” Rosario said. “I thought for a second we were going to come and get the winner, but he was too good today. I was up close and my horse was there for me. I could see the pace wasn't very fast, but he was traveling hard and very comfortable on the inside there. He's a champ.”

Mind Control, who won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at the Spa last year for trainer Gregg Sacco, edged Firenze Fire by a neck for third.

Live racing returns on Saratoga on Sunday with a 10-race card which features the Grade 2, $150,000 Bernard Baruch over the Mellon turf course for 3-year-olds and upward. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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Can Surgical Removal Of A Mare’s Ovaries Fix Unwanted Behaviors?

A Danish study investigated if removing a mare's ovaries could offer relief from unexplained unwanted behavior. The changes in behavior were assessed by the owners of the horses. Some mares used in the study had ovarian cancer; others had no veterinary-diagnosed reason for their unwanted behavior.

Removing the ovaries was final attempt to resolve the unwanted behaviors as drug use to stop their reproductive cycles had failed and no issues with their reproductive tract could be found. Unwanted mare behavior can range from being uncooperative to aggression aimed at humans or other horses.

Drs. Daniel Taasti Melgaard, Martin Soendergaard Thoefner, Trine Stokbro Korsgaard, Morten Roenn Petersen and Hanne Gervi Pedersen, used the records of 28 mares that had their ovaries removed six to 24 months earlier and followed up with the horse owners, asking them to complete a questionnaire and respond to a telephone interview. Ten of the horses in the study had normal ovaries, 14 of the mares had ovarian cancer in one or both ovaries, and the other ovaries of the other horses were not examined for the presence of cancer.

Eight out of the ten mares (80 percent) with normal ovaries had improved rideability after their ovaries were removed; rideability improved in 57 percent (eight out of 14) in the mares with ovarian cancer. Mare behavior improved in about 40 percent of the cases studied.

The researchers conclude that mares without ovarian cancer may benefit as much from ovary removal as mares with ovarian cancer, showing improved rideability and behavior, though there is no obvious explanation as to why mares with normal ovaries benefited. The team noted that owner perception of improved behavior could be a placebo effect because they assumed the operation would work. They also stress that horses have a through diagnostic workup to rule out other issues before an ovariectomy is performed,

Read the full study here.

Del Mar Cards Special Monday Racing Program As COVID-19 Make-Up Day

With the exceptions of Labor Day Mondays, racing on the first day of the week hasn't happened at Del Mar in many moons. In fact, the last time Monday programs were par for the course was when the seaside track used to race six days a week, a situation last realized in 2008.

But this coming Monday racing will be back on the front burner featuring a 10-race card. And track officials will be interested to see how fans across the country respond to it at their mutuel windows — at satellites or online. The sense is, with Del Mar being the “big dog” among all tracks running that day, it might prove very noteworthy in the counting house.

Del Mar is racing this Monday as a “make up” for one of the three days lost last weekend to jockey woes with the COVID-19 pandemic. The other two “missing” days are expected to be made up further along in the summer season that goes forward to Labor Day Monday, September 7.

This Monday approximately a dozen other “major” tracks across the country will be in action. On an average weekend at this time of year, there'd be half as many more of those tracks doing business and competing for the wagering dollars. Obviously, less competition could prove beneficial. How much so is uncertain, but the Del Mar folks ought to have a pretty good idea after the last race is run Monday afternoon.

The feature race Monday is an allowance test for 3-year-olds and up at a mile on the grass course that has drawn seven horses. The morning line favorite in the turfer is Keith Brackpool's Mesut, who is trained by Carla Gaines and will be ridden by the track's leading rider, Umberto Rispoli.

First post Monday, as it is on all racing cards at the shore track this summer, is 2 p.m.

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Two Sixty Gives Casse-Barber Team Third Straight Selene Triumph

Two Sixty dashed to the lead out of the gates and never looked back in the $125,000 Selene Stakes (Grade 3) on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

The victory marks the third straight in the Selene for the trainer-owner combination of Mark Casse and Gary Barber, and second in a row for jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, who also won last year's edition in rein to Power Gal. For Casse, it was his record-tying (Yonnie Starr) sixth Selene score.

One of three Casse trainees in the field of seven, Two Sixty set out on a front-end mission in the 1 1/16-mile main track stakes event for 3-year-old fillies, posting splits of :24.12, :48.81 and 1:13.36 en route to the three-quarter-length triumph. The final time was 1:45.01.

Saratoga Vision, the longest shot on the board at 84-1, slipped between horses and found a seam towards the rail to close for second-place honors just ahead of the favored Queen's Plate eligibles Owlette and Merveilleux.

“It was clear on paper that Owlette was going to be pace, but they took the blinkers off. So right off the hop, I wanted to get away and set myself at the front with conviction and that's what happened,” said Wilson. “As we eased into the backstretch, I took a little bit of a hold of her. I glanced between my legs and saw that I had a length or so of daylight that I could ease back and have her take a breather. She pricked her ears as we came around the three-quarter pole top of the backstretch and it was great. And then I just waited to hear them… waited to hear them… waited to hear them… waited to hear them… She dug hard, she ran fast and she held them off.”

Two Sixty returned $21.20 to win for the 9-1 upset.

“It's Mark Casse, Gary Barber, you can't go wrong,” said Wilson of picking up the winning mount. “Mark is a fantastic trainer and he puts these horses in races and they can win. I followed instructions. We went with the flow of that. She ran a bang of a race at Gulfstream before she went in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile [ninth]. She went to the lead, set some solid fractions and held them off in hand. She had to work a little harder today, but that's kind of the way it panned out for us.”

Bred in Florida by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds Inc., the Uncaptured–Jim's Lonesa filly entered the Selene off a fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes during her Woodbine debut on June 13. The win was her second in five starts this year, having also captured the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in January. Two Sixty now boasts a record of 4-1-1 from 11 starts lifetime and is closing in on the $500,000 mark in career earnings.

Casse stablemates Diamond Sparkles and American Tap finished fifth and seventh, respectively, with Livin in the Six sixth.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Sunday at Woodbine Racetrack featuring the Grade 3 Seagram Cup. Post time for the first race is 1 p.m.

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