Riker stretches out in Swynford Stakes
Riker, one of North America’s fastest 2-year-olds, will try to stretch his speed out to seven furlongs on Saturday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Swynford Stakes.
Ron GierkinkSep 03, 2015
Riker, one of North America’s fastest 2-year-olds, will try to stretch his speed out to seven furlongs on Saturday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Swynford Stakes.
Too Flash For You was in peak form on Labor Day weekend in 2014, winning the $1,920,887 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs for his third and final stakes win of the year.
Trainer Tim Rycroft has an excellent chance of sweeping the two stakes races for juveniles at Northlands Park this weekend. On Saturday he has the two big shots with Awesome Slate and Kristofferson in the $50,000 Birdcatcher.
The Woodward at Saratoga features horses that have a combined 24 triple-digit Beyers, so this is no easy call.
With the belief that American Pharoah “deserves the chance to be in the sport’s premier year-end event,” his owner and breeder, Ahmed Zayat, confirmed Thursday that American Pharoah would remain in training and point to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, mirroring the comments trainer Bob Baffert made 48 hours earlier.
There won’t be the same challenges for In The Arsenal this Saturday night as there were in the opening leg of pacing’s Triple Crown. The sophomore colt paid dearly for trying to leave the gate into Wiggle It Jiggleit in the Cane at the Meadowlands in early August, but that rival won’t be in the lineup for the $500,000 Messenger at Yonkers Raceway.
Sharp Horses and Track Trends by Bob Pandolfo for August 27 to 30, 2015.
Hampstead Heath ($14.90) won the $125,800 Halton Stakes for the second year in a row Wednesday night at Woodbine. The one-mile turf route was the first of six stakes on the card for graduates of local yearling sales.
Wild in the Saddle, refreshed from an early-summer trip to the farm, won her second stakes of 2015 in Wednesday’s $108,330 Tranquility Lake Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar.
Hall of Famer Curlin, who is in the midst of an outstanding summer season with runners such as Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice, will relocate to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Lexington, Ky., for the 2016 breeding season.