With the feature race, the Allen Jerkens Stakes, being a two-mile contest on the turf – the type of race rarely run in North America – this handicapper will steer clear of it and focus on other races instead. Betting it is just too much of a shot in the dark, with horses generally not having raced this far and jockeys being unaccustomed to riding in races of such length.
A 7-year-old gelding by Mutakddim out of Lisa Danielle, Casino Dan runs Sunday at Turfway in the sixth race, where he is the 7-2 third choice on the morning line in a field of six, racing a mile for a $26,000 purse under nonwinners-of-three allowance conditions.
When My Super Nova defeated Sonora by a head in a six-furlong maiden race at Belmont Park in October, she may have benefitted from having a midpack draw while Sonora had to break from post 11 in the 12-horse field. Fast forward 101 days, and when the two meet again at Aqueduct in Sunday’s $125,000 Franklin Square Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Majestic Affair won his second straight sprint stakes on Thursday, galloping to a 5 3/4-length victory in the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes at Laurel Park.
Because it’s a rare Kentucky Derby prep race still contested on a synthetic surface, the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 21 seems likely to attract “niche” horses with success on such types of tracks. Firespike, is Spiral-bound by way of another direction – from Ocala, Fla., where he won the OBS Championship Stakes on Tuesday by 2 1/4 lengths.
Mawthooq will be vanned from south Florida to Lexington, Ky., on Sunday to be evaluated for a tendon injury that will knock him out of the Withers and off the Triple Crown trail.
Ride On Curlin galloped about 1 1/2 miles Friday at Oaklawn to move closer to his first work since winning an allowance sprint at the track in his 4-year-old debut Jan. 15. Ride On Curlin was the runner-up in last year’s Preakness.
Now two months old, a simulcasting dispute between a company controlled by the Stronach Group and a group of racetracks has shown some signs of progress over the past several weeks, according to an official involved in the discussions, though a deal has not yet been reached.
When Texas Red makes his first start at age 3 on Sunday in the Grade 2, $200,000 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita, it will be exactly three months since his runaway victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The colt people see won’t quite resemble the one they last saw.
Although a good name will not make a horse run faster, or farther, that does not stop Thoroughbred owners from burning the midnight oil in search of just the right combination of words and letters to lay upon freshly turned 2-year-olds. The deadline for early naming of registered foals of 2013 is this Sunday, Feb. 1.
