A victory by Tara’s Tango in an optional claimer at Del Mar on Wednesday will lead to a seven-figure stakes race in Pennsylvania next month.Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Thursday that Tara’s Tango is likely to make her next start in the $1 million Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Parx Racing on Sept. 19.
These are heady times for veteran trainer Larry Ross. On Saturday, he’ll send out Belle Hill as a prohibitive favorite in the $65,000 Washington Oaks at Emerald Downs, and next weekend, he’ll target the Pacific Northwest’s biggest prize with Stryker Phd in the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile.
Weight proved to be the great equalizer in Thursday’s $125,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase, as longshot Choral Society, starting under a relatively feathery 142-pound impost, finished full of run to register a 1 1/4-length victory over Martini Brother, with Demonstrative, the 158-pound highweight and 1-2 favorite, finishing a disappointing third.
The Whitney at Saratoga looks like the Breeders’ Cup Classic without American Pharoah. This is the strongest field assembled for any race this year. It is going to take somewhere between a 108 and 110 to win. Six of the 10 horses have done that kind of number.
The days of turf sprints are behind Fanticola, the favorite for Saturday’s $250,000 John C. Mabee Stakes for fillies and mares on turf at Del Mar.
The $80,000 Minnesota Oaks, an one mile and seventy yard test with ten Minnesota-bred fillies entered, looks like an opportunity for Sioux Appeal, Silver Magna and Shaboom to renew their budding rivalry.
There were two performances at Belmont Park on June 6 so brilliant that they gave you the chills. One, of course, was by that 3-year-old who did that thing that hadn’t been done in 37 years. The other, understandably obscured by American Pharoah’s historic achievement, was Honor Code’s victory in the Metropolitan Mile.
FROSTY MARGARITA (8) is the one to fear most in the sixth race, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight dash for New York-bred juvenile fillies. She looked the part of a winner in midstretch after closing from fourth when debuting at Belmont on July 9 before being overtaken late by Wonderment, who subsequently romped in the $125,000 Lynbrook Stakes with a 74 Beyer Speed Figure.
Mals Famous Eagle, My Moment of Fame, and Careless Lightning will be riding win streaks into the $83,520 John Deere Juvenile Challenge at Retama Park near San Antonio on Saturday. The 350-yard race for Quarter Horses closes out the meet.
Laugh It Up will attempt to win her fourth straight race in the $30,000 Dr. O.G. Fischer Memorial Handicap at SunRay Park in Farmington, N.M. on Saturday.
