The $3-million All American Futurity is Quarter Horse racing’s richest event, but the purse could be seized by a horse with Thoroughbred bloodlines. A total of 10 juveniles with a Thoroughbred sire or dam will be among the 325 horses in 34 trials over Friday and Saturday at Ruidoso Downs vying for one of 10 spots in the gate for the lucrative final, which will be held Sept. 7.
Dank, the Eclipse Award winner for champion turf female in 2013, has been reported in foal to global sire Galileo for her first pregnancy.
Dido (#3, ML 5-2) returns in Friday’s sixth race at Del Mar, the 1 3/8-mile CTT and TOC Handicap on turf. It will be her first start since finishing second by 2 ½ lengths in the River Memories Stakes on July 5 at Belmont Park. The first-, third-, and seventh-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts. Get the Key Race report as part of DRF Plus. Sign up for DRF Plus here.
Each week DRF Harness will bring you PA Harness Week. This 30-minute show highlights the best of Pennsylvania harness racing as well as what is happening on the national scene.
BreezeFigs Quick-Pix for Saturday, August 22nd by Bob Fierro and Jay Kilgore.
There is a plethora of major stakes weekends on the horizon and few can top the action on tap this Friday to Sunday. Vernon Downs, Pocono Downs, Mohawk, Tioga Downs, The Meadows, and even Charlottetown Driving Park have races worthy of the national spotlight.
Tioga Downs is the place to be on Sunday as two Empire Breeders Classic finals and the $150,000 Roll With Joe highlight a stellar card of racing at the Nichols, New York track. While the Roll With Joe appears to be a wide-open event, a pair of horses stand out in the two EBC finals. One of those is the Joe Holloway-trained Divine Caroline in the $269,000 split for 3-year-old filly pacers.
Bob Pandolfo's sharp horses and track trends for August 13 to 16, 2015.
The California Horse Racing Board voted Thursday to change the 2016 Thoroughbred racing calendar in Southern California to give Los Alamitos a three-week meeting in April and extend the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting from late June to mid-July.
The upward trajectory of prices in the North American yearling market has continued through the early sales of 2015, giving consignors reason for optimism heading into the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. August yearling sale. The three-day auction will be held Tuesday through Thursday, beginning each day at 11 a.m. Eastern. A select session of 217 yearlings will kick off the sale Tuesday, followed by a pair of open sessions.
