The last time Motown Men and Soi Phet met, in May at Santa Anita, it was not even close. Motown Men won the $150,000 stakes as Soi Phet finished more than 10 lengths back in ninth place. When they meet again Saturday in the $75,000 E. B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos, the race figures to be a lot closer.
I’m going with the maiden Condominium in Saturday’s Iroquois Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs.
The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario Division) Canadian premier yearling sale consolidated from two days to one for its 2015 renewal, led on Tuesday by a $150,000 filly from the second crop of sire Court Vision.
It is String King’s world, and Charlie Smith has just been living in it the past five years. There’s nowhere else the 69-year-old would rather be. Smith bred, owns, and trains the near millionaire, who will be seeking the 13th stakes win of his career Saturday in the $75,000 Unbridled at Louisiana Downs.
Lincoln Race Course’s token one-race meet has been rescheduled for Monday after heavy rain forced the cancellation of Thursday’s card. Post time for the rescheduled race will be 4:50 p.m. Central.
The company that owns a harness track and a Thoroughbred track in Indiana has joined a coalition calling for the appointment of the U.S. Ant-Doping Agency to enforce U.S. racing’s medication policies and drug-testing programs, the coalition announced Thursday.
Sombree’s performance Saturday in the $75,000 Happy Ticket at Louisiana Downs will go a long way toward determining whether she advances to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
Gamble’s Ghost will look to build off of her maiden win when she makes her graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Natalma Stakes for 2-year-old fillies over one mile on Woodbine’s turf course.
Never underestimate the power of Churchill Downs. Its in-state rival down by the Tennessee border is giving away cash by the truckload, but can Kentucky Downs offer Win and You’re In berths toward the Breeders’ Cup or eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks? Don’t think so. So when the tracks present overlapping programs for the first of two straight Saturdays, it will be Churchill dangling those added incentives with the Iroquois and Pocahontas, two of four stakes on an 11-race card.
Trainer Jose Camejo saddles Madelyn's Finest (#4, ML 3-1) in Thursday's fourth race at Louisiana Downs, a 5 1/2-furlong optional claimer. Since Jan., 1, 2014, Camejo is winning at a 32 percent clip when saddling a horse in a sprint, for a return on investment of $2.95. Check out the Positive ROI report as part of DRF Plus. Sign up for DRF Plus here.
