Who will ship from California to Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint? The answer will be clear Sunday at Santa Anita, where graded stakes winner Taris and improving allowance filly Unforgettable U race 6 1/2 furlongs in the Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes.
Free: How I'd play Santa Anita for Saturday, Oct. 3
Trainer Craig MacPherson is excited about the prospect of running Bluegrass Angus in the $100,000 Perryville Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Sedin, Mighty Fraser, and Crius didn’t make much of an impact in the Grade 3, $250,000 British Columbia Derby on Sept. 13 and will appreciate the class relief when they run in an optional $25,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds at Hastings on Sunday.
Weather permitting, trainer Todd Pletcher is scheduled to be on hand here at Keeneland on Sunday morning with John Velazquez and other New York-based jockeys for several important works, including one by Liam’s Map, a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The male line of three-time leading sire Danzig is secure, but exactly how many branches may grow on that highly colorful and varied tree remains unclear. Danehill and Green Desert have emerged as prolific sires of sires in their own right, and there are still possibilities, however remote, that branches from Anabaa, Boundary, Lure, and National Assembly could somehow flourish if the right horse comes along.
Portland Meadows begins its 37-day 2015-16 meet on Sunday with a stakes tripleheader and a new general manager.
Ten years ago on Sunday, Barbaro won his career debut at Delaware Park – launching a six-race win streak to begin his career, culminating with a dominating performance in the following spring’s Kentucky Derby. But if that streak captured the racing world’s imagination, it was nothing compared to what commenced two weeks following in the Preakness Stakes, when the colt pulled up with severe injuries in the first quarter-mile of the race and captivated the nation with his fight to survive over the next eight months. Waiting in the wings were four full brothers to the classic winner: Nicanor, Lentenor, Margano, and Pennmarydel.
Gamble’s Ghost, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Natalma Stakes, will return to Polytrack in search of her first graded stakes victory in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Mazarine Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale joined the rest of the North American auction market in digging out of the industry-wide slump and back to levels comparable to before the crash. The question remains, though, where it will ultimately settle.
