Brian Zipse

I hate to say goodbye. A fixture of American racing for much more than my lifetime, it’s time to draw the curtain on the Big A.

As the second half of the racing season begins, Further Ado remains one of the most interesting horses among this year’s 3-year-old crop. With less than two weeks to go until what promises to be a loaded edition of the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes, handicapping the big race at Monmouth Park could be as simple as predicting what we will see from the talented son of Gun Runner.

Overshadowed in his own barn by the likes of White Abarrio and Skippylongstocking, Navajo Warrior continues to clim the ranks of the older male division, and his best may yet still be to come.

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With next month’s Whitney (G1) at Saratoga looking to be a star-studded affair, the fear was the $1 million, Grade 1 Pacific Classic on the opposite coast would come up a real clunker. Fortunes can change in an afternoon, however, and suddenly Del Mar’s signature race is one to look forward to.

Counting Stars (#2) drew clear late to defeat Always a Runner (#5, blue and red jockey silks) in the Acorn Stakes June 5 at Saratoga. The two fillies will have a rematch Saturday in the Coaching Club American Oaks at the same track. (Skip Dickstein)

Coaching Club American Oaks brings together the Acorn Stakes (G1) winner Counting Stars and the Kentucky Oaks (G1) hero Always a Runner for a third consecutive meeting. Rated as the top two sophomore fillies in the land, they will vie for favoritism against seven others in the prestigious nine-furlong affair Saturday at Saratoga.

Chief Wallabee and Blackout Time are the headliners in Saratoga’s Curlin Stakes on Wednesday as both colts will be in search of their first stakes victory.

The Grade 1, $1 million Arlington Million will be run for the fourth time at Colonial Downs on Saturday and has attracted a field of eight turf specialists. A winner of three consecutive stakes races in Kentucky, Burnham Square rates top billing as he cuts back in distance to 1 1/4 miles. Already a Grade 1 winner on dirt, The Ian Wilkes trainee looks to add a turf victory at the highest level on Saturday.

There is an old saying in horse racing; class will tell. I believe we saw great examples of that yesterday in big races in New York and Virginia, as Renegade and Burnham Square proved best in important victories. The margin of victory in both races was only a half-length, but both runners found that little bit extra when they really needed it.