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Excitement is Building

Sep 1, 2022

It’s hard to believe the Summer Racing Meets at Saratoga and Del Mar are coming to a close. Saratoga’s Meet (July 14 – September 5) concludes on Labor Day and Del Mar’s Meet ends a week later (July 22 – September 11). The good news is our excitement is building for closing week at both tracks!

Closing week at Saratoga began with our (West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing) 2 year old colt, Battle of Normandy running in the Grade 3, $175,000 With Anticipation Stakes on Wednesday, August 31. Battle of Normandy was coming off his impressive maiden win on August 6th going 1 1/16th miles on the turf at Saratoga. Heavy rains had the turf course rated as “good” for the seven entrants. Battle of Normandy had been training great since his winning effort and drew post position #1 for his stakes debut. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche rode the rail, saving ground throughout the race. At the top of the stretch Carmouche looked to swing Battle of Normandy outside but was hemmed in with no place to go. Eventually a seam between the two horses on the lead opened up and Battle of Normandy went through. Unfortunately, the wire came too soon and he lost by a diminishing head.

Replay of Battle of Normandy race

On Saturday, September 3, First Captain will run in the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga. First Captain is coming off a hard fought second place finish in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park on July 9. His last few workouts have been very good and he will once again face Dynamic One who won the Suburban Handicap by a nose. Luis Saez will pilot First Captain from post position #6. Post time is 5:45 PM (EST).

Also on Saturday at Saratoga, we (West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing, Lane’s End Racing, Phipps Stable, Ken Langone and Edward Hudson) will be unveiling Juan Valdez in race #8. Juan Valdez is a regally bred Medaglia D’Oro colt we purchased in February at Gulfstream’s Sale of 2 Year Olds in Training. The race is 7 furlongs (7/8th’s of a mile) on the dirt with a post time of 3:58 PM (EST) and Juan Valdez has drawn post position #8.

As the sun is setting in Saratoga we will turn our attention to Del Mar for two interesting races as well. Hawker will return for his second lifetime start in race #6 going 6 1/2 furlongs. In his maiden voyage Hawker closed strongly to finish second by a nose. Considering he wants to run longer and he raced wide throughout most of his first start, I’m excited to see the “return” of Hawker. One of the horses he beat in his first race returned to win impressively at Del Mar which speaks to the quality of the field he faced. Hawker drew post position #10 and post time is 6:40 PM (EST).

Hawker preparing for Saturday race

 

The premier race of the Del Mar Summer Meet will be Saturday’s Grade 1, $1,000,000 Pacific Classic. All eyes in the racing world will be tuned in to see “America’s Horse”, Flightline! Flightline will bring his undefeated record (4 for 4) into the race and attempt to go a mile and a quarter around two turns, both for the first time. He’s been training well since his win in the Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park in June. The Pacific Classic has drawn a field of six horses and Flightline will leave from post position #5. Post time for the Pacific Classic is 8:50 PM (EST) and can be viewed on TVG (Television Games Network) or the Del Mar Racetrack website. I ran into Flightline’s jockey Flavien Prat at Saratoga while watching morning workouts and he was excited about the Pacific Classic and the opportunity to ride Hawker.

Jockey Flavien Prat

Flightline

Daily Racing Form article on Flightline

Another Daily Racing Form article on Flightline

Bloodhorse article on Flightline

Bloodhorse articles on Flightline and Battle of Normandy (pages 3 and 7)