Normandy Invasion came up a little short while making his first start in more than a year on Wednesday at Delaware Park. Normandy Invasion, 5, has had two long layoffs in his career, with the first partially due to foot problems. His comeback Wednesday came after he underwent surgery to repair fractured sesamoids, an injury sustained while training last September.
Brewster Smith's analysis of the Friday 7/3 card at Yonkers Raceway.
A quick glance at the past performances for Friday’s $250,000 Graduate final for 4-year-old pacers at the Meadowlands is all it takes to realize that trainer Steve Elliott is holding all of the cards. At the very least, in Rockeyed Optimist and Doo Wop Hanover he holds a pair of aces and the competition is statistically overmatched.
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The top 3-year-old male pacers in North America meet Saturday in the $500,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but with trainer Tony Alagna expecting the group to “trade punches all year,” the event might as well be called “Round Two.”
Hazel Park Raceway announced a 5 percent purse reduction on Tuesday, effective July 10, marking the track’s second purse cut in the last month. The Detroit-area racetrack previously scaled back overnight purses by 15 percent on June 12, citing a decline in purse-fund revenue from simulcast wagering.
Cocked and Loaded, who shipped from Arlington to win the Tremont Stakes on June 5 at Belmont Park, remained on track for a return trip to New York and a start July 25 in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga when he worked five furlongs in 1:02 last week over Arlington’s main track.
It’s supposed to be tough times when a jockey loses his apprentice weight allowance, but that hasn’t been the case with Mitchell Murrill, who entered this week’s racing atop the Arlington Park jockey standings with 35 wins, 14 more than the next-best total.
Ruidoso Downs is putting on 32 trials for its $1 million Rainbow Futurity over its Friday and Saturday cards in New Mexico
Lewis Vale seemed to find a home on turf last out, winning a first-level allowance race at Arlington Park with a solid closing kick, and should have a chance to make it two straight on Friday in the featured second race, an optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
The second annual Stars and Stripes card, scheduled for Saturday at Belmont Park, definitely will have an all-American feel to it.
