Horse Racing News

A field of 10 older fillies and mares was drawn Wednesday for Saturday's $500,000 Diana, at least one of whom will achieve a career milestone by posting her first Grade 1 win.

There will certainly be many richer and more important races decided over the final five weeks of the 2011 Saratoga session than Monday's $150,000 Lake George Stakes.

J C's Pride established a Saratoga track record for five furlongs on the main track in the third race July 27, lowering the previous mark by 0.17 seconds with a final time of 56.54 seconds.

While Shackleford and Ruler On Ice battle for divisional supremacy in Sunday's Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, seven lesser accomplished but not necessarily inferior 3-year-olds will clash in Saturday's $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.

It was billed as a two-horse 'duel on the downs', but it quickly turned into a brilliant one-horse display of sheer talent as Frankel took the lead from the start and never looked back, flying home to take the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

Bourbon Bay, a four-time graded stakes winner in California, looks to get back on track when he leads a field of eight in the Grade 3, $125,000 Cougar II Handicap July 29 at Del Mar.

Trainer Jimmy Toner made no excuses after More Than Real handed Winter Memories her only defeat in the 2010 Breeders' Cup. Toner is hoping he won't need any after the pair meet for the first time as 3-year-olds at Saratoga in the Lake George Stakes.

First Dude, who won the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 9, came out of the race with a tendon injury to a front leg and has been retired, trainer Bob Baffert said Monday morning at Del Mar.

British transplant Simon Callaghan got his first Del Mar stakes winner in the most memorable way on Sunday as he sent out Up In Time for an 11-1 upset in the Grade 2, $150,000 San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old turf fillies.

Jockey Victor Espinoza has been taken to nearby Scripps Encinitas Hospital for X-rays of an ankle following a terrifying, three-horse spill in the final race on Sunday at Del Mar.