(Trainer Chad Brown conditions New Money Honey / Photo Courtesy of Keeneland)

Every day, we scour the work tabs at racetracks all over the country.  We are looking for workouts that may be of interest and helpful to you — as both race fans and handicappers.  Some of the horses we will be tracking, you will know.  Some of them, you may not know — as of yet.  We will keep a keen eye and stopwatch to see who may be working well:

  1. Vortices, a 2YO filly by Twirling Candy and trained by my good friend Buff Bradley, worked this morning at Churchill Downs. She went a nice 5 furlongs in 1:01.80. That was the second best time out of 3 to go the distance over a sloppy dirt track. Keep an eye on this one, though. I really liked her in the last try down at Ellis Park, when she got a chance to run over that turf track. Despite a tough start, she ran fourth — and that’s saying something over that very firm (as in hard) turf surface which has been favoring nothing but speed. Watch for this one next time. She has two fourths in the first three starts. Has a chance to be OK.
  2. Flying Scotsman, a 2YO son of English Channel and trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, made a nice impression in his career debut on Aug. 8 at Del Mar. He came running with a real purpose to get third, despite a slow and awkward start. He was back on the track at ole’ Del Mar this morning and looked even better. He went a nice half mile in :47.60. That was the third best time out of 47 to go that distance, and I would bet the best time of any 2YO to go that far. This one looks to be a good bet next time out. After all, his time was better than the 3YO Twirling Candy colt Italiano — who comes from the same barn. That one has already won twice in his career, and he went the same distance in :47.80. Worth noting.
  3. Roy H, winner of the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar and a 6YO son of More Than Ready, worked at Del Mar this morning for trainer Peter Miller. The colt — who won the G2 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita in his 2018 debut and most recently ran second in the G1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar after his return from Dubai — went a spectacular 5 furlongs in :59 flat. That was the bullet move of 43 to go the distance, and was the talk of the track this morning.
  4. Holy Helena, an Ontario-bred daughter of the great Ghostzapper and trained by James Jerkens, worked at Saratoga this morning. This filly — who has a 6-2-1 record in just 11 career starts to date and has already earned over $1.043 million in purses — went an easy 3 furlongs in :38.19. That was the 7th best time out of 9 to go the distance. It was her first published workout since June 23. In her last race, on June 30, she ran third in the G2 Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine. She is a G2 winner — having won the Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park back in May.
  5. New Money Honey, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita in 2016 and a 4YO daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, worked at Saratoga this morning for trainer Chad Brown. In just two starts this year, she has an allowance win, but ran 6th in the G1 Diana Stakes in her last out. Today she went an easy half mile over the Saratoga dirt training track in :49.41. That was the 15th best time out of 23 to go that distance over that surface. What’s next?