Saratoga maidens

It's well-known around the racetrack that a good horse can come from anywhere. Saturday's eighth race at Saratoga, a seven-furlong maiden special weight race run on the dirt, featured a field of nine. No surprise that eight of the starters were bred in Kentucky. The only one that wasn't was Dapper Moon (Malibu Moon), a Louisiana-bred. But he had no problem conquering his fashionably-bred rivals from the Blue Grass State, winning the race by five lengths for trainer Dallas Stewart and owner Murray Valene. "He doesn't know where he was...

Owned by Alex Bregman's Bregman Family Stable, Laurice (Bolt d'Oro) kicked off her career in the right way, winning Saturday's sixth race at Saratoga. The race was run at 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf and Laurice was sent off at 7-2. Bregman is an MLB All-Star who plays for the Houston Astros and has been an enthusiastic owner since getting involved in racing. George Weaver was the winning trainer. With Junior Alvarado aboard, Laurice stalked the pace set by Moonlight Promises (Promises Fulfilled), took control at the top of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- At the top of the stretch of the opener of the Saturday card at Saratoga Race Course, a 2-year-old colt named Jonathan's Way (Vekoma) was fanned six, maybe seven wide. But he was moving and, like a giant tidal wave, gathering momentum with each long, powerful stride. Out in California, Richard Rigney, who owns the colt, was watching the race on a cellphone along with bloodstock agent John Moynihan. They had hope, but they also were realists.  After all, the six-furlong race was the first in Jonathan's...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. --Though he was en route to Toronto Thursday, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said he had a clear view of She's Got Will's (War of Will) one-length victory in the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course. Casse watched the 1 1/16th miles $100,000 maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies on his iPad on the Queen Elizabeth Way in southern Ontario about 30 miles from Niagara Falls. He was headed from Saratoga to Woodbine Racetrack for Saturday's $1-million King's Plate Stakes, where he will saddle Essex...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Tenacious Leader (Not This Time) served up a sample of his grit Saturday in what turned into a decisive maiden special weight victory at Saratoga Race Course. The Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable colt turned in a textbook performance under leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. and finished 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Clock Tower (Not This Time) in the $100,000 one-mile race on the main track. Race 7 on the program was originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course, but the New...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- If you believed the tote board before the seventh race at Saratoga Race Course Sunday afternoon, it was best to move right on by the No. 8 horse in the $100,000 Maiden Special Weight for 2-year-old fillies. May Day Ready (Tapit) had no chance to win her debut, a 1 1/16-mile race on the inner turf. At least that's what the betting public thought. She was dead on the board at odds of 25-1; second longest shot in the field of 10. "The horse didn't know...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. - The first-time trainer Tom Amoss sent 2-year-old filly Kimchi Cat (Twirling Candy) to the races, he was expecting something good to happen. "We were very excited," Amoss said. "She had been doing very, very well in the mornings." That was June 14, a Friday, at Churchill Downs. The optimism waned a bit when they got to the paddock. "There was a very mature, good (Steve) Asmussen in there, and I was like, 'oh, God, we're in trouble," Amoss said. He was right. Viggiedal (Vekoma), the...