Following are some of the horses to watch in the selected portion of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. August yearling sale based on their pedigrees and the past auction performance of notable family members. Conformation, physical characteristics, veterinarian records, and late pedigree updates were not taken into consideration.
With the yearling sale season now in full swing, the Ocala Breeders Sales Co.’s August sale will provide another opportunity for first-year sires to be showcased – particularly those in Florida’s regional market. Biondetti and Overdriven, both juvenile graded/group winners from strong female families, lead the state’s first-year sires by number of yearlings cataloged and will have the chance to make an impact in a region that values precocity, looking ahead to next spring’s busy juvenile sales and racing calendar.
Through mid-August, Gone Astray stood alone atop Florida’s freshman sire list with four winners, including two stakes winners, and progeny earnings of $311,713 from 12 starters. Nationally, he ranked third among freshman sires, behind only champion Uncle Mo and Twirling Candy, and he was the second-leading juvenile sire overall in Florida to another Dixie Union stallion, High Cotton (Ocala Stud), who had twice as many runners.
Trainer Jimmy Jerkens hasn’t had Tricky Zippy very long, but he’s sure happy to have her after the red-hot New York-bred filly made her stakes debut a winning one when she drew off to a convincing 4 3/4-length victory over favored Willet in Thursday’s $100,000 Union Avenue Stakes at Saratoga.
John Campbell returns to the sulky on Saturday night just in time for The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono’s Super Stakes card. The track is celebrating its 50th anniversary and Campbell hopes to join in the festivities with some key mounts as he returns from a fractured left wrist.
Stealing headlines with freshman pacer Thisorthat Hanover since her racing debut in June, trainer James Dean’s filly is poised to strike next in the first division of the Eternal Camnation Stakes Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack.
Saturday’s Alabama Stakes card at Saratoga isn’t a knockout one in terms of overall quality. That will come with next week’s Travers program. But it is a well-constructed card. The first of two 2-year-old maiden races full of first-time starters is slotted as race 6, meaning it is completely out of the pick five and early pick four. The other was positioned as race 8, the first leg of the late pick four, giving everyone a chance to see where the money goes. And there are several other interesting betting races, such as:
Caretakers Malin Boman-Friberg and Viktor Flink-Ideborn enjoy special connections with their horses, D’One and Magic Tonight. It goes beyond simply sharing winning moments. Magic Tonight and D’One both race Friday at Vernon Downs in New York. Magic Tonight is the 9-2 third choice on the morning line in the $200,000 Crawford Farms Open Trot while D’One is the 7-2 second choice in the $177,000 Muscle Hill Mare Trot. Orjan Kihlstrom will drive both horses.
Derick Giwner's analysis of the Saturday 8/22 card at Pocono Downs.
The stakes schedule for the Laurel Park fall meet will benefit from the addition of three graded stakes that are being sponsored by the Virginia Equine Alliance.
