Sam the Bugler is back
Sam Grossman, better known as Sam the Bugler, returned to work Thursday at Belmont Park after a two-month hiatus following an alcohol-related incident at Saratoga on Aug. 8.
David GreningOct 15, 2015
Sam Grossman, better known as Sam the Bugler, returned to work Thursday at Belmont Park after a two-month hiatus following an alcohol-related incident at Saratoga on Aug. 8.
Despite his 10 career stakes wins at Los Alamitos and status as champion 3-year-old of 2014, Moonist has something to prove when he starts in the $125,000 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Championship on Saturday. He has never raced at 440 yards.
Pretty N Cool, runner-up to Songbird in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, drew post 5 in a six-horse field entered Thursday for Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Matron Stakes at Belmont.
Kiaran McLaughlin was monitoring important workouts on two fronts Thursday morning, with his top sprinting 3-year-old filly Cavorting breezing at Belmont Park and his leading older female Wedding Toast putting in a workout at Saratoga.
With mere maiden races at slots-rich tracks going for close to $100,000, one might have thought the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby, offering a $150,000 purse, would come up light on quality. That thought would’ve been wrong.
There is only one reason Freaky Feet Pete has stayed home in the Hoosier State for the first two years of his career. It is certainly not because the Rheinheimers have an aversion to travel, abhor signing the checks for stakes payments or panic over the depth of competition. There is simply just no place like home.
There is no getting over the loss of a horse like Talco. But at least there can be distractions. Kosta Hronis hopes to have three runners lining up for Breeders’ Cup races come the weekend of Oct. 30-31, including Santa Anita Oaks winner Stellar Wind in the Distaff and Hard Aces, winner of the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, in the Classic.
Lucky Folie, third in the Surfer Girl Stakes on turf Oct. 10, will not start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 30. Trainer Richard Mandella said he plans to start Lucky Folie in the $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 15.
As a Grade 1 winner and a millionaire, Coffee Clique is headed to the breeding shed next year. Her connections would like to get at least one more win from her before she retires, and they feel she’s well spotted to accomplish that in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Athenia Stakes at Belmont Park.
Trainer Joe Holloway enters Saturday's Breeders Crown elimination races for 3-year-old pacing fillies with a solid hand. While 18 were entered to be reduced to 10 for the final, Holloway arrives at Woodbine with two of the top five fillies in North America--Divine Caroline and Bettor Be Steppin.