Delta Downs will field the $100,000 Gold Cup for the second time this year on Saturday night, after the Oct. 31 running had to be canceled due to heavy rains. A few new players have joined the lineup, with original entrants Stormdriver and The Pickett Factor meeting notable fresh entrant One King’s Man.
Roughly halfway through the Hawthorne fall-winter season, there’s 44-year-old Chris Emigh, perched atop the jockey standings, his 27 wins through Nov. 11 eight better than Tim Thornton and Santo Sanjur.
There are people in racetrack management who stay up late trying to come up with names for their races. Then the next day at work they pick one out of a hat, or at least that’s how it appears.
Corey Callahan is in perfect position to cash in on Saturday with Dog Gone Lucky in one of two Valley Victory eliminations and Ideal Rocky in the second of the pair of Governor’s Cup preliminaries on Saturday at the Meadowlands.
Mac Daddy Mac is one of the top contenders Saturday in race 8, the Bob Hope Stakes. The very next race, the last of the day, includes two horses who come out of the maiden race he won on Oct. 24.
Donworth, winner of the Stanton Stakes at Delaware Park and the runner-up in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland earlier this year, will join trainer Doug O’Neill’s barn this weekend after being acquired this past week at the Keeneland November sale.
In the first five starts of his career, Brimstoned never could even finish in the money. But a week after that fifth start, he was gelded. Since then, he has raced three times, winning all, and he will try to increase that streak to four on Saturday at Del Mar in race 7.
The five $100,000 undercard stakes that lead up to the $350,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park on Saturday cover a lot of territory and should keep everyone entertained until the feature race arrives.
The Grade 3, $250,000 Red Smith on Saturday is the last scheduled graded turf stakes of the New York season, and in view of some recent rainy weather, it will most probably be contested over a non-firm course with considerable give in the ground.
So taking the course condition at Churchill Downs into account, I’m intrigued by 8-1 shot Robillard in Saturday’s Mrs. Revere Stakes.
