Silver Freak faces easier task in Friday turf feature
Silver Freak returns to action Friday in the $47,000 feature, a third-level allowance scheduled for a mile on turf.
Marty McGeeNov 05, 2014
Silver Freak returns to action Friday in the $47,000 feature, a third-level allowance scheduled for a mile on turf.
All that is familiar about Del Mar will be new when the track opens its 15-day autumn meeting Friday.
There probably isn’t much separating Bourneville and Pretty Two Faced, who are among the protagonists in Friday’s third race at Woodbine, a 1 1/16-mile route that combines Ontario-sired allowance types with $40,000 non-winners of three claimers.
Forecasted showers never materialized overnight in the Louisville area, with only light drizzle for the most part – resulting in the turf races remaining on the grass as of Wednesday morning, though officials are calling it “good.” The main track is fast.
Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky., has released the advertised 2015 stud fees for its 15-horse stallion roster. Leading the group will be Smart Strike, a 22-year-old son of Mr. Prospector, whose fee will remain unchanged at $100,000.
Day two of the Standardbred Horse Sale saw a total of 314 horses sold for an average of $36,748, a 7.5 percent decrease from the $39,710 average for 298 yearlings sold in the second session of 2013. The 2014 average is nearly identical to 2012, when 307 horses sold for an average of $36,821.
Tuesday's opening session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale was outpaced by last year’s kickoff session, but maintained competitive figures without the benefit of any major dispersals to support the market.
A trio of graded stakes winners, led by Grade 1 winner Last Full Measure, each fetched prices in excess of $1 million to bring the total number of horses to reach that threshold during Tuesday’s opening session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale to seven. The mark is one better than the total from the 2013 opening session.
As the second week of Aqueduct’s fall meet begins, it ushers in a busy stretch of racing. As part of a reconfigured schedule to allow for a Christmas-time break, there will be racing next Monday, which was originally a dark day. Starting with Wednesday’s card, the Big A will be open for live racing 11 of the next 12 days through Sunday, Nov. 16.
Little Ms Protocol was a sweeping 3 1/4-length winner of the $100,000 Magnolia at Delta Downs last Friday night. She is now being pointed for the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies at Fair Grounds on Dec. 13, said her trainer, Patrick Devereux Jr.