There was a lot of speed in the $70,000 Miss Woodford Stakes at Monmouth Park on Sunday, and when the pacesetters began to tire in the stretch, it set the table for late-runners Fusaichi Red and Coco’s Wildcat, who finished first and second.
Are You Kidding Me solidified his position as Woodbine’s leading older runner with a victory over a quality field in Sunday’s Grade 2, $209,600 Nijinsky Stakes.
Her Majesty’s Flag notched her first stakes as the longest shot on the board in Sunday’s $127,750 Duchess for 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
Two races in 11 days and Wonderment has gone from unraced 2-year-old filly to undefeated stakes winner.
The past few months have been difficult ones for trainer Art Sherman as California Chrome was stabled eight time zones away, pointing for races Sherman thought inappropriate, but he got the call he hoped for over the weekend when Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky informed Sherman that California Chrome would be sent back to Sherman with the intent of racing him next year at age 5.
With the Haskell Invitational two weeks away, Mike Dempsey, Monmouth Park’s director of racing, and stakes coordinator Dan Dufford are beating the bushes to round up rivals to take on Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
With apologies to Steve Crist, who used to write this sort of column annually, here are 10 things I would love to see at this Saratoga meet, which opens Friday (yay!).
A yielding turf course one jockey described as “saturate” blunted the excellent acceleration of Glenard, who instead used a steady inside run to win the $104,000 Warrior Veterans Stakes by a length Saturday evening at Indiana Grand.
The favored Stormation ($4.80) put forth a brazen display of speed and fended off No Holds Barred's steady rally for a one-length win in Saturday's $52,450 Prairie Gold Juvenile.
High Dollar Woman, running the race of her life, skipped over the slop and never was headed in winning the Grade 2, $206,900 Indiana Oaks by one length over Sweetgrass on Saturday night at Indiana Grand.
