Cool Cowboy has not run often this year but he has tried hard when he has had the chance. On Tuesday evening at Mountaineer Racetrack, Cool Cowboy will be favored in the $85,000 Sophomore Sprint Championship.
Lukes Alley ($4.40) turned on the jets in the stretch to nail the sharp New York shipper War Correspondent on the wire Sunday in the Grade 2, $224,800 Autumn Stakes at Woodbine.
Bettors looking to play Monday’s pick five will have to get through four consecutive maiden races in order to get to the cash-out leg, a $50,000 starter allowance scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf.
The late pick four sequence at Aqueduct today is playable, with a couple of price horses I could use as “A’s.” Let’s go after it.
I must admit that I'm not that enamored with Sunday's card. My goal is to get alive to #9 NORTH STAR BOY in today's seventh race. A 5-year-old gelding, North Star Boy recently gave a solid account of himself when in over his head against Wise Dan and company in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga. His rider that afternoon, Irad Ortiz Jr., did nothing wrong as he saved every inch of ground before finding a bit of traffic in upper stretch. Despite only winning once in 2014, North Star Boy has been good for most of the year. He gets a jockey switch to Sheldon Russell, who has combined with trainer Niall Saville for 12 wins from 41 starts (29 percent) and a $3.38 ROI over the past five years.
Prompted by an unusual circumstance, Proud Azteca has been disqualified from a recent victory at Churchill Downs because the colt was ineligible for the race.
After beginning the Sunday card with a few short fields, the races at Churchill are refreshingly large over the final two thirds of the day – the benefit of fewer tracks racing in November compared to other times of the year.
Touchdown Arkansas won his maiden Saturday night in the $50,000 Razorback Futurity at Remington Park, where the 29-1 longshot held off the 1-5 favorite Indygo Bo by 1 1/4 lengths. It was another five lengths back in third to All Aboard.
Heavy favorites swept both divisions of the 46th Tri-State Futurity at Charles Town on Saturday night.
The Keeneland November breeding stock sale shifted into its middle-market Book 3 portion on Saturday, and active bidding at the upper end of that price range kept overall trade steady and cumulative figures running slightly ahead of last year’s sale.
