It’s good to own a Cal-bred. That’s been the mantra of California breeders and owners of California-breds, and it couldn’t be any truer than on Saturday, when six statebred fillies run six furlongs for a $100,000 purse in the Oak Tree Distaff at the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting at the Alameda County Fair.
The Breeders’ Cup has reached a licensing deal with the manufacturer of the Instant Racing gambling devices that will allow the manufacturer to use the Breeders’ Cup’s likenesses and brands, according to the companies.
Masochistic already was a four-time winner when he won his debut for trainer Ron Ellis in the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at Santa Anita on April 11. Ellis thinks Masochistic will be even better for his Grade 1 debut in Saturday’s $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs.
Catch a Flight is the horse more likely to improve in Saturday’s Gold Cup at Santa Anita.
There will be plenty of stakes action on Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but race 11, an elimination for the James Lynch Memorial for sophomore pacing fillies, could be the highlight on the 16-race card.
One horse who hasn’t won going two turns since last August and another who hasn’t raced at all in 11 months could play prominent roles in Saturday’s $75,000 J. William Petro Memorial Handicap for Ohio-bred fillies and mares at ThistleDown.
I think the Gold Cup at Santa Anita will be Hard Aces’s best race for trainer John Sadler and he’s my pick on Saturday.
There’s a new rivalry in town, and it will be on display Saturday in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Catch a Flight vs. Moreno is not quite Shared Belief vs. California Chrome, but it is what remains out West, where the handicap division has dissolved. Shared Belief is on the sidelines, while California Chrome missed a start in England and heads next to Arlington.
If you can’t have the big horse in a $500,000 event like the Gold Cup at Santa Anita you might as well swarm the race with numbers, which is what trainer Peter Miller will be doing on Saturday when he sends out four of the 11 older runners entered in the mile and one-quarter main track event topped by the Californian one-two finishers, Catch a Flight and Moreno.
Frac Daddy and the Al Stall Jr.-trained pair of Departing and Medal Count are among the top contenders in the one-mile Firecracker, a key link in an all-stakes pick four Saturday night at Churchill Downs.
