Chaching Pete looks like the one to beat in a $10,000 starter allowance race that headlines an eight-race card at Emerald Downs Friday. The six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew nine horses, and the shape of the race should work in Chaching Pete’s favor.
A national umbrella organization for state racing commissions will identify those states that have not adopted the group’s uniform rules and work with the commissions to adopt the regulations, the group said on Wednesday, in an acknowledgement that state racing commissions have been slow to respond to national calls for action.
The Pennsylvania Derby didn’t get its big horse, American Pharoah, but in recent years that has been the exception rather than the rule. The same holds true for the Grade 1 Cotillion.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston Race Park will be run over 1 1/2 miles when it is renewed Jan. 30, the Houston track announced.
The moment of truth for Muscle Baby Doll has arrived in the form of Saturday’s C$404,000 Elegantimage final at Mohawk Racetrack. In race nine, the Frank Bellino and Sons-owned 3-year-old trotting filly will take on divisional leader Mission Brief with a chance to make her mark in the division.
The upcoming weekend includes two stakes for juveniles – the $100,000 Barretts Debutante on Saturday and the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile on Sunday. As an appetizer, a good maiden race Friday goes as race 4.
With their final prep races for the Breeders’ Cup two weeks away, Midwest Thoroughbred stars Work All Week and The Pizza Man are scheduled for serious workouts at Churchill Downs this weekend.
A Tapit colt took over as the top price of the Keeneland September yearling sale when he sold for $1.65 million to Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stable on Wednesday afternoon.
Frosted and Upstart will compete in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Saturday just three weeks after racing in the Travers, a demanding 1 1/4-mile race if there ever was one.
Finger Lakes has a pair of six-furlong stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds on Friday, the $115,749 Aspirant, for colts and geldings, and the $119,613 Lady Finger, for fillies. The Aspirant and Lady Finger will produce runners for the biggest race of the Finger Lakes season, the $200,000-estimated New York Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 17.
