La Appassionata will be an odds-on favorite to give jockey Gerard Melancon a win in the one major race at Delta Downs that has eluded him, the Grade 3, $400,000 Princess.
On Wednesday, the West Virginia Racing Commission approved the statutory minimum of racing dates for both Charles Town Races and Mountaineer Park next year, but both tracks plan to file amended applications that would cut at least 100 dates total from the state’s live racing schedule.
Aye a Song lost a heartbreaker in the Tri-State Futurity, missing by a neck and suffering the first loss of her four-race career. She'll be a heavy favorite to make amends Saturday night at Charles Town in the $50,000 West Virginia Futurity at Charles Town.
Irish import Jeremy's Legacy, purchased for a partnership and making her U.S. debut Saturday in race 6 for trainer Doug O'Neill, must overcome the outside post in a field of 11 if she is to prevail in the one-mile grass race.
The Bank will try to cash in Saturday when he faces seven older foes in the $400,000 TVG Free For All Series championship for trotters at the Meadowlands Racetrack. The 3-year-old is one of many horses trainer Jimmy Takter is racing during a weekend of rich stakes at the Meadowlands.
Being based in Chicago, The Pizza Man's favorite style probably is deep dish, but he will try to make California his pizza kitchen on Thanksgiving Day, when he makes a return visit to Del Mar for the Grade 2, $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Thursday.
Four fillies with Grade 1 experience – Kitten's Dumplings, Sandiva, Lady Lara, and Distorted Beauty – will try to add a Grade 3 victory to their résumé when they square off Saturday at Gulfstream Park West in the $100,000 My Charmer Handicap.
At a time of year when firm ground is hard to find in the northeast and Kentucky, the allure of California becomes even stronger, and that is the main reason trainer Graham Motion decided to send Rusty Slipper to Del Mar for the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap on Saturday.
The 26th annual Thoroughbred Charities of America stallion season auction will be held Monday, Jan. 4 through Saturday, Jan. 9.
Trainer Marcus Vitali and his owners briefly toyed with the idea of sending Lochte to the Breeders' Cup Turf following his victory Sept. 27 in the Mr. Steele Stakes at Gulfstream Park. But faced with the prospect of meeting contenders such as Golden Horn, Found, and Big Blue Kitten, it wasn't long before a more conservative route was chosen for the Grade 1 winner, a route that will send him to the starting gate as the highweight and potential favorite Saturday in the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap at Gulfstream Park West.
