Philip D'Amato

Trainer Philip D'Amato sent out a quintet Saturday morning at Santa Anita Park, with three confirmed as pre-entries for the Breeders' Cup after their works, on a busy morning for World Championship hopefuls across the country. From his three confirmed, GSW Iron Man Cal (Collected) worked four furlongs in :49 flat, and will be pre-entered for the Juvenile Turf. GSW Thought Process (Collected) also went four panels in :49.80 and will target the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Argentinian Group 1-winner Che Evasora (Arg) (Greenspring) worked six furlongs in 1:15.80, and owns...

Thought Process (Collected) held her ground in the stretch of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes to secure her first career black-type. Third on debut July 27 when sprinting on the main track, the chestnut found grass to her liking less than a month later, breaking her maiden Aug. 17 when stretched out to a mile and flopped to the turf for the first time. On the back of that performance, which garnered her a Beyer of 82, the betting public crowned her the 2-5 favorite and she did...

Just a quarter hour after Idea Generation (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) lulled the GII Flower Bowl Stakes field to sleep at Saratoga, Dicey Mo Chara (GB) (Adaay {Ire}) tried the same tactics on the other coast in the GII Del Mar Handicap, but didn't have the same head of steam afforded the Saratoga winner and found a late dogfight instead. Favored Gold Phoenix (Ire) (g, 6, Belardo {Ire}--Magnifica, by Mizzen Mast) "loves to fight," according to rider Kyle Frey, and kicked it into high gear late to run down the pacesetter,...

Fasig-Tipton Digital's Midsummer Flash Sale concluded Thursday afternoon with the two offerings both sold for a combined gross of $830,000. The first offering, Hip 1, MGSW & GISP Emmanuel (More Than Ready), sold for $500,000 to trainer Michael Maker. Consigned by WinStar Farm LLC, agent as a racing or stallion prospect, Emmanuel had captured five graded races on the grass, including the 2024 GIII Canadian Turf Stakes at Gulfstream in March, and was most recently fourth in the July 20 GII United Nations Stakes at Monmouth. Currently stabled at Saratoga,...

Bolt D'Vine (Bolt d'Oro--Perfectly Divine, by Vindication) was one of two runners in the field with no prior experience, but you'd never know it judging by her performance here. Cruising home as easily as she pleased, the filly carrying Michael House's colors sailed over the wire and earned the 'Rising Star' nod in the process. Off at 3-1 and vying from off the rail up the backstretch through :22.36 and :45.53 fractions, it looked briefly like her early rival might make a race of it, but when Bolt d'Vine took...

The only member of the field for Saturday's GIII Dinner Party S. with proper soft-ground form, Balnikhov (Ire) (Adaay {Ire}) was given a letter-perfect ride by Frankie Dettori and kicked home smartly to score for the third time at the graded stakes level, snapping an eight-race skid in the process. Allowed to find his own rhythm, Balnikhov anchored himself at the back of the nine-strong field, as longshot Helms Deep (Verrazano) showed the way passing the stands for the first time. Favored Running Bee (English Channel), the rail-skimming Highland Chief...

Adare Manor (f, 4, Uncle Mo--Brooklynsway, by Giant Gizmo), a big, rangy daughter of her Breeders' Cup-winning sire, made it four in a row and a first Grade I with a facile win in the $400,000 GI Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar Saturday. The filly will likely attempt to win a Breeders' Cup of her own as the "Win and You're In" Hirsch offers a fees-paid berth to the GI Distaff, which will be held at Santa Anita in November. When the field broke in the Hirsch, it...

Conclude (Collected) brought his stakes-winning form with him from Santa Anita and returned to the winner's circle in Del Mar's customary opening day feature--the Caesars Sportsbook Oceanside S. A winner a black-type winner at the turf sprint distance last out May 21 in Santa Anita's Desert Code S., Conclude's first race after his freshening from that contest proved fruitful as the 9-2 second choice here. Showing some early speed after the jump but quickly overtaken and outrun by a loose leader on the clubhouse turn, the chestnut son of GI...

It's not a too common occurrence for sales-topping purchases to make it on the track despite the world of promise their pedigree, physical, and connections might imply. Further out still is the extraordinary feat of reproducing themselves or--at the very least--producing several runners of equitable talent between them, though stallions have the task on significantly easier asking than do the fillies and mares. Mendelssohn is patiently inching closer to changing that outlook and his Del Mar winner from last Saturday proves the stallion can get a promising runner at any...

Fergus Cousins, the retired vet who bred GII San Clemente S. winner Bellabel (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), described that Del Mar triumph as his best moment in racing. Bellabel, formally trained by Jessica Harrington in Ireland, won the Grade II contest on debut for Philip D'Amato, sparking hopes that bigger and better things could be coming in the sales ring for her breeder. Cousins has four broodmares at his base in Dunshaughlin in County Meath. He bought Fashion Line (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), the dam of Bellabel, for €32,000 at the...

Seven-year-old Count Again (Awesome Again) sliced through horses and blew past heavily favored Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) in the lane to annex Monday's GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita. Picking up an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile later this year, Count Again's victory was the fourth on the card for East Coast invader Irad Ortiz, Jr.--with a runner-up finish in the only other race run to that point--and was won in notably similar fashion to Ortiz's score in the GI Hollywood...

Elm Drive took command of the Angels Flight S. and never looked like anything but the winner in an eye-catching 3-year-old bow reminiscent of her early juvenile form. As brilliant as she was on unveiling June 26 at Los Alamitos, where she dominated a five furlong field of maidens by eight easy lengths, and then a head victorious in Del Mar's GII Sorrento S. Aug. 6 over eventual GISW Eda (Munnings), she was as uncharacteristically dull in her prior two starts. Eased to a distant seventh in the GI Del...