Horse Racing News on August 31, 2013

Silver Max ran legitimate fractions early and had plenty left to finish up late in the $245,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course, streaking wire-to-wire over yielding ground for his second graded-stakes score in a row.

Pacesetter Strapping Groom, a $35,000 claim in May, captured the Forego Stakes in a 15-1 upset Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course, surging in the final strides to edge Jackson Bend on a sloppy track.

Godolphin Stables' Alpha sprung a wire-to-wire upset in the $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 31, winning for the first time since he took the 2012 Travers Stakes last August in a dead heat with Golden Ticket.

Trainer Eric Guillot has filed a complaint with the New York State Gaming Commission alleging that jockey Luis Saez carried an electronic device when he won the Aug. 24 Travers Stakes aboard Will Take Charge.

Mucho Macho Man, most recently third in the Whitney Handicap, has been scratched from Saturday's Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga.

John Oxley's versatile Uncaptured, who has won on dirt and synthetic surfaces in the U.S. and Canada, heads a field of 10 3-year-olds entered in the $350,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Parx Racing on Labor Day, Sept. 2.

Corfu and Wired Bryan, who put on quite a performance in the Aug. 11 Saratoga Special Stakes, are back for a rematch Sept. 2 in the $300,000 Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes on the Labor Day card at Saratoga Race Course.

Ten fillies and mares have been entered in what appears to be a wide-open edition of the Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar Sept. 2.