Churita is perfect in eight trips to the gate this season and will seek to add luster to her already sparkling resume on Friday (August 14) when she takes on nine rivals in her $75,000 Indiana Sire Stakes Final. It is the seventh race on the $300,000 Dan Patch Stakes card with an approximate post time of 7:31 p.m.
In a matchup between Canadian champion male sprinters, Calgary Cat mowed down Essence Hit Man in the stretch to capture the $107,400 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes on Wednesday night at Woodbine.
After entries for the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile were drawn Thursday, Emerald Downs linemaker Rob Rao installed Stryker Phd the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Sunday’s main event. The late-running Stryker Phd has earned his lofty standing, and then some, winning six consecutive stakes races at Emerald Downs, including the 2014 Longacres Mile and, in his most recent start, the 1-1/16-mile Mt. Rainier Handicap in a six-length romp.
Pretty N Cool is unbeaten and untested after two starts, and looking every bit the summertime leader of California’s 2-year-old filly division. Pretty N Cool won her stakes debut without difficulty in Wednesday’s $200,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, a win that makes her the favorite for the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Sept. 5.
Here are my issues with the Thursday card at Saratoga (leaving aside that it doesn’t have a lot of obvious quality): A) After a wet Wednesday, and with a chance of rain still in the area, no idea what sort of condition we’ll get for grass, which makes strong opinions hard to form. And that leads to B) There is no string of consecutive races that appeal, and without a hard nut of a single somewhere in the mix, I wouldn’t be more than stabbing at a pick-anything.
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Friday 8/14 card at Mohawk Racetrack.
Kelly Cathey was named interim executive director of the Oklahoma Racing Commission at a special meeting in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, according to the commission’s personnel director, Bonnie Morris. Constantin Rieger, who for the past 10 years has served as the organization’s executive director, submitted his letter of resignation last Friday, and it was accepted at the meeting Wednesday.
Saturday has been designated as Allen Jerkens Day at Saratoga, to commemorate the life of the Hall of Fame trainer who died earlier this year in Florida.
Brewster Smith's analysis of the Friday 8/14 card at Yonkers Raceway.
Murray Rojas, a trainer based in the mid-Atlantic, has been indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy by federal authorities for allegedly directing veterinarians to administer substances to horses on race day at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pa., according to officials with the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
