Saratoga Race Course | Horse Racing Free Tips

Golden Pal To Target Breeders’ Cup After Easy Skidmore Victory

Ranlo Investments' Golden Pal surged to the front and drew away in the stretch, posting an impressive 3 ½-length score in a gate-to-wire victory in Friday's $85,000 Skidmore for juveniles at Saratoga Race Course.

After a runner-up effort by a neck in his turf debut last out in the Group 2 Norfolk on June 19 at England's Royal Ascot, Golden Pal shipped back to the United States and entered the sixth running of the Skidmore off three strong breezes at Saratoga. That momentum carried over into the afternoon, where Golden Pal broke sharp from the outermost post 6 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, leading the field through an opening quarter-mile in 21.99 seconds and the half in 44.37 on the Mellon turf course labeled firm.

Out of the turn, Golden Pal opened up even more while never seriously challenged, completing 5 ½ furlongs in a final time of 1:00.88 [challenging the track record of 1:00.21 set by Carotari in August 2019].

“He's a really cool horse,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “It's special when you get on horses like that. I'm so happy to be able to get on him. Hopefully he stays sound and healthy and he can keep doing what he did today.”

Golden Pal, the 2-5 favorite, returned $2.90 on a $2 win wager and improved his career earnings to $73,056. Trainer Wesley Ward said the effort could set up the Uncle Mo colt for a spot in the Grade 2, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint going 5 ½ furlongs on November 6 at Keeneland, where Ward is primarily stabled.

“He's something special, this guy. I think we just got a little peek at it,” Ward said. “From everything we've seen here, they're coming into his homecourt like Michael Jordan in the United Center in the Breeders' Cup this year. He's a very, very nice colt. I'm very thankful for the owner.

Bred in Florida by Randall E. Lowe, who operates under the nom de course Ranlo Investments, Golden Pal made his career debut on April 17 over Gulfstream Park's main track, running second to Gatsby before traveling to the prestigious Royal Ascot meet two months later, where he led the field before The Lir Jet won in the final jumps. He is out of 11-time stakes-winning turf sprinter Lady Shipman, who was also bred and campaigned by Lowe.

“[The owner] afforded me the time that myself and my team has needed, and this horse had some issues and my team has really worked hard on this guy,” Ward said. “He's so fast and he's so gifted. To get him to this point is special.”

Ward trained the exacta, with Fauci finishing four lengths clear of Sky's Not Falling for second. Sunny Isles Beach, also trained by Ward, ran fourth, followed by Kentucky Knight and Baytown Bear.

“My horse broke good but the other horse [Golden Pal] had more speed, so I wasn't going to go up there and battle head and head,” said Fauci jockey Tyler Gaffalione. “He settled nicely and put in a nice run down the lane, but the other horse was much the best today.

“He's [Golden Pal] pretty quick. He's a nice horse,” Gaffalione added. “I rode him in his first start and he's a really fast horse, but it seems like he's starting to get the mental side of it now.”

Live racing resumes Saturday at Saratoga with a 10-race card that includes the Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave for 3-years-old and up going one mile on the inner turf in Race 9 at 5:46 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:10 p.m.

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‘One Of Those Races You Aspire To Win’: Motion Readying Mean Mary, Secret Message For Diana

Trainer Graham Motion has reached the heights of the sport, winning four Breeders' Cup races along with the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. But the Diana, for older fillies and mares on turf at Saratoga, is one prestigious race that has eluded him.

After saddling the runner-up finisher on five occasions, Motion will look to break through, sending out two contenders in Mean Mary and Secret Message in Sunday's 82nd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana going 1 1/8 miles on the Mellon turf course.

Motion has come as close as possible to training the winner of the Diana without having a horse cross the wire first, with Ultra Brat losing by a nose to Sistercharlie in 2018. Quidura (2017), Shared Account (2010), and Sweet Talker (2006) all lost by a head, while Aruna was beaten 1 1/2 lengths in a second-place effort in 2011.

Even before his training career, Motion experienced bad beats in the Diana. Working for trainer Jonathan Sheppard, Motion was the exercise rider of the filly Wooing, who as a 32-1 shot finished first in the race in 1989 but was disqualified for interference and placed behind Glowing Honor.

“Since I've worked for Jonathan Sheppard, it's been a race I've always pointed horses towards,” Motion said. “I even galloped a filly that got disqualified in this race, so it's been a bit of a nemesis for me. It's one of those races that you aspire to win. It's a race that has amazing history and with me training turf horses, and specifically turf fillies, it's always been a race that I've wanted to try and win and try to compete in every year.”

Motion's contenders make up one-third of the small-but-accomplished six-horse field that features the Chad Brown-trained duo of 3-2 favorite Rushing Fall and Sistercharlie [5-2], who will be looking to become the first horse in the Diana's history to win it three consecutive years.

Alex G. Campbell, Jr.'s Mean Mary drew the outside post with Luis Saez aboard. Listed at 3-1, she enters 3-for-3 in her 4-year-old campaign and with four consecutive wins overall dating to a December victory over optional claimers at Gulfstream Park.

In her 2020 bow, she wired a 10-horse field going 1 ½ miles to win the Grade 3 La Prevoyante by five lengths in January at Gulfstream and again won over the track in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 3 Orchid in March. Last out, she was shortened to 1 ¼ miles and responded with a stellar 5 ¼-length score in the Grade 2 New York that netted Mean Mary her first career triple digit Beyer Speed Figure at 101.

Since making her debut running fifth on dirt in September, Mean Mary has won five of her six turf starts and came in second in the other; a one-mile allowance contest in November at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“She impressed me when she broke her maiden and she's just continued to improve,” Motion said. “When she ran in the stake the first time [the La Prevoyante], it was more about the races that were available to her, and I just had a feeling she'd handle the extra distance and she handled it well.”

After proving she likes longer distances, Motion said the 1 1/8-mile Diana will be a good indicator as he prepares her for a potential start in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/16-miles in November at Keeneland.

“She's been pointing to this race for a long time,” Motion said. “With the Breeders' Cup, I need to find out if she can handle these shorter distances. She certainly did before we started running her at these longer races, but not at this level. She's trained really well for this race and hasn't really missed a beat.”

Secret Message, owned by Madaket Stables, Heider Family Stables, ERJ Racing, Elayne Stables Five and Steve Bouchey, is the longest shot on the board in the Diana at 20-1, drawing post 2 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.

The 5-year-old daughter of Hat Trick is also coming off a short turnaround after running third in last week's Perfect Sting at the Spa. After running sixth in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on July 11 at Keeneland, won by Rushing Fall, Secret Message earned blacktype in the 1 1/16-mile Perfect Sting on August 14 and will wheel right back.

“The racing this year has been different because it's come up so competitive even though it's listed races,” Motion said. “We feel like we haven't been able to run her as much as we normally would. The fact that she's a big, robust filly; we felt she could handle a quick turnaround. She really ran the last quarter-mile last weekend and really sprinted home. She sprinted home as fast as anyone.”

Motion is approaching 2,500 career wins [2,477 entering Friday] and won the 2011 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, who also ran second in that year's Grade 1 Preakness. He has earned placing in the other two American Classics, saddling runner-up Irish War Cry in the 2017 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Icabad Crane to a third-place effort in the 2008 Preakness. He won last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Sharing and is a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf with Main Sequence (2014) and Better Talk Now (2004). Shared Account won the 2010 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

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Saratoga: Sunday Card Features Mandatory Payout Of Empire 6 Wager

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the Sunday, August 23 card at Saratoga Race Course will feature a mandatory payout of the Empire 6, which boasts a jackpot of $442,574 heading into Friday's nine-race card at the Spa.

Live coverage of all the races in the sequence will be available with Saratoga Live on FOX Sports and MSG+. Free Equibase-provided past performances will be available for races that are part of the Saratoga Live broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

Sunday's Empire 6 sequence kicks off in Race 4 at 2:54 p.m. Eastern with a 1 1/16-mile New York-bred maiden claiming route on the inner turf featuring a field of eight led by No Salt, a sophomore son of Tonalist trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott.

In Race 5 [3:33 p.m. ET], a nine-furlong allowance route for New York-breds, a hard-knocking field of seven features Six Percent for trainer Jimmy Jerkens and last out off-the-turf maiden winner Too Early for conditioner Linda Rice.

A field of eight maiden claiming turf sprinters [and one main-track only entrant] take to the Mellon turf in Race 6 [4:09 p.m. ET] including Mia Bea Star for red-hot trainer David Donk and Silent Empress, a First Samurai bay looking to improve second-time out for conditioner Christophe Clement.

In Race 7 [4:43 p.m. ET], a field of seven sprint six furlongs in an optional-claiming affair on the main track in a wide-open race that includes 11-time winner Pete's Play Call for trainer John Toscano and the Rice-trained multiple stakes placed Mount Travers.

The Grade 1, $500,000 Diana [Race 8, 5:18 p.m. ET], at nine furlongs on the inner turf, will see the Chad Brown-trained Sistercharlie bid for history by becoming the first three-time winner of the historic event in its 82nd running. A salty field of six includes Sistercharlie's five-time Grade 1-winning stablemate Rushing Fall and Canada's reigning Horse of the Year and last-out Grade 2 Ballston Spa champ Starship Jubilee.

Closing out the sequence in Race 9 [5:51 p.m. ET] is a vexing New York-bred maiden claiming route on the Mellon turf as a field of eight looks to graduate at the Spa. Donk and Clement feature again with the Donk-conditioned Ringgood dropping in from restricted maiden special weight company at fifth asking, while the Clement-trained Allied Invasion will look to improve on his 62 Beyer Speed Figure second time out.

The Empire 6 requires the bettor to select the first-place finisher of the final six races of the card. On non-mandatory payout days, if one unique ticket exists, then 100 percent of the net pool, plus the jackpot carryover if applicable, will be paid to the winner. If there is no unique wager selecting the first-place finisher in all six races, then 75 percent of the day's net pool will be distributed to those who selected the first-place finisher in the greatest number of races. The remainder will be added into the jackpot and carried to the next day's Empire 6.

For more information on the Empire 6, please visit http://www.nyrabets.com.

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‘We Cannot Let Our Guard Down’: BEST To Reemphasize Proper Use Of PPE At Saratoga

The Backstretch Employee Service Team (BEST) will team up with the Northeast New York Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (NENY-COSH) on Aug. 24-25 to provide one-on-one demonstrations on the proper use of personal protective equipment to the essential workers of the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course. The demonstrations will re-emphasize the continued best practices that have been in place at the racetrack since early March. Each worker in attendance will receive a PPE kit including a mask with filtering respirator, gloves, and hand sanitizer. The project was made possible with the help of a grant from the Hispanics in Philanthropy Essential Fund.

PPE has been supplied, free of charge, to the horsemen and the workers since the start of the pandemic. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Assocation (NYTHA) teamed up earlier this month to distribute 25,000 masks at Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park, bringing the total number of masks and gloves donated to the backstretch community to more than 200,000.

This initiative is the most recent in the ongoing effort to protect the workers from Covid-19. BEST has been working with the NYRA, NYTHA, and the New York division of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America since early March to address the issues created by the pandemic. The organizations formed a Task Force Mar. 10 and created the “Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Plan,” developing policies regarding testing, medical care, quarantine and the mandatory use of PPE, as well as setting up a communication network with the horsemen and the workers, and organizing distribution of PPE, medical supplies, food, and clothing for those in need.

“Since the start, we have been working hard to make sure the workers have everything they need, and this is an ongoing and collective effort,” BEST Executive Director Paul Ruchames said. “We are thrilled that, as of today, we have no active positives in our backstretch community. But we will continue to be vigilant. A key component in keeping the backstretch workers safe is education. NENY-COSH will review the facts about PPE with our workers – how to wear it, how to store, when to discard it.”

The Task Force expanded its Plan and exceeded New York State requirements when Saratoga Race Course opened in July, mandating that everyone working at the upstate track produce a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed on the grounds. This policy includes jockeys, valets, NYRA employees, trainers and their staff, outside vendors, and media. As is the policy at Belmont Park, everyone licensed and approved to be on the property are required to wear a mask, practice social distancing and submit to a daily temperature check.

Signs in English and Spanish are posted across the backstretch as a daily reminder to follow these protocols, and there is a hotline to call should anyone have concerns about Covid-19.

As a result of this diligence, there are currently zero positive cases of Covid-19 at Saratoga Race Course and downstate at Belmont Park.

“NYTHA is committed to improving the lives of the workforce on the backstretch, and our mission has never been more focused than during the fight against Covid-19,” NYTHA President Joe Appelbaum said. “We want to thank NENY-COSH for providing this valuable service to the workers, and the Gaming Commission, NYRA, BEST, and the Chaplaincy for their collaboration during difficult times. We are proud of the hard work and dedication that have gone into this effort, and of our horsemen and workers for their willingness to cooperate and comply.”

Added Ruchames, “Thanks to the partnership with NYRA and NYTHA and the guidance of the New York State Gaming Commission and the Governor's Office, we have been able to contain Covid-19 at our racetracks. But we cannot let our guard down.”

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