Horse Racing News

Big Drama's first two forays into Grade 1 company were unsuccessful. His connections hope the third time is the charm when Big Drama seeks his first Grade 1 victory in Sunday's $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga.

Wickedly Perfect gave jockey Rafael Bejarano his fourth win on Friday with a game performance in the $150,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar.

Muscle Massive edged Lucky Chucky by a half-length in the $1.5 million Hambletonian for 3-year-old trotters on Saturday at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

The complexion of the Grade 1, $250,000 Test Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga changed dramatically Thursday afternoon, when Franny Freud, the morning-line favorite, was removed from the race because of an injury.

Six days after being at Monmouth Park to send out Lookin At Lucky to win the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, trainer Bob Baffert will be staying home at Del Mar when his stable goes after another rich stakes for 3-year-olds back East.

She is a small-framed filly but stocky, with a twisted sort of whitish blaze and the muscles of a quarter horse sprinter.

Zenyatta was entered in Saturday's $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Wednesday, the same morning she made her much-anticipated first appearance of the season on the Del Mar Polytrack surface.

Lookin At Lucky, who scored a powerful victory in the Haskell Invitational on Sunday, is still at Monmouth Park, recovering from a minor illness from which he is improving, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday morning at Saratoga.

He has won six of his last seven starts, including the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. But just how good Blame is may not be known until Saturday, when he takes on Quality Road in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

Mike Smith made a successful return to Saratoga and helped his old pal Bill Mott win the Grade 1 Diana for the fourth time in the last six years.