Chamberlain Bridge and Central City, the one-two finishers in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, will renew their rivalry Monday at Parx Racing.
The 7-year-old Chamberlain Bridge, winless in his last three starts and idle since mid-June, and the 5-year-old Central City, making his first start of the year, head a field of 12 older turf sprinters in the Turf Monster Handicap, one of three stakes worth a collective $850,000 on the holiday program.
Chamberlain Bridge, who has yet to display the same form in three starts this season that carried him to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint last fall, looks to regroup over a turf course where he is unbeaten in two starts when he returns to suburban Philadelphia for Saturday’s inaugural running of the $200,000 Parx Dash Handicap at Parx Racing.
Your browser does not support iframes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Chamberlain Bridge returns to his favorite turf course when he heads a field of nine entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint, a five-furlong race that kicks off the stakes action on Saturday’s Kentucky Derby card.
Your browser does not support iframes
Chamberlain Bridge found glory last year in Kentucky, although not at Keeneland. The millionaire gelding lost three times in eight 2010 races, with two of those defeats coming here.
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Chamberlain Bridge probably would have been favored to win the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint on the March 26 Dubai World Cup card, but trainer Bret Calhoun said that the Dubai race, long considered a goal for Chamberlain Bridge, had been called off.
“He is not going to Dubai,” Calhoun said Monday. “Mainly, it’s just because of shipping arrangements.”
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint champ Chamberlain Bridge is tentatively scheduled to leave for Dubai on March 15 after winning his seasonal debut last weekend in the $75,000 Rail Splitter at Sam Houston Race Park. He is to make his next start in the Group 2, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse on March 26.
Chamberlain Bridge will ship out of his Fair Grounds base, with complete travel details still coming together, trainer Bret Calhoun said.
Chamberlain Bridge moved closer to a trip to Dubai on Saturday night, when he won his first start since taking the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in the $75,000 Rail Splitter at Sam Houston Race Park.
The five-furlong turf race served as his prep for the Group 2, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Race Course on March 26.
Houston to Dubai. That’s that goal for Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Chamberlain Bridge, who will launch his 2011 campaign Saturday night at Sam Houston in the $75,000 Rail Splitter. If things go well for the horse, it will be on to the Group 2, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Race Course in Dubai on March 26.
A trip to Dubai could be on the horizon for Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Chamberlain Bridge. He resumed galloping at Fair Grounds on Wednesday, with the goal of making the $60,000 Colonel Power at the track on Feb. 19. From there, Chamberlain Bridge might ship overseas for the Group 2, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Race Course.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bret Calhoun kept downplaying the foot abscess that threatened to prevent Chamberlain Bridge from starting as one of the favorites in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. And after the 6-year-old gelding stormed to victory Saturday in the five-furlong race, giving Calhoun and jockey Jamie Theriot their second BC victory in as many days, the 46-year-old trainer proved just how right he was.
