Three-year-old males in New York get their last graded stakes shot against their own age group in the Grade 3 Discovery Handicap (race 8), in which Bay of Plenty and Three Alarm Fire are expected to vie for favoritism going once around the main track at 1 1/8 miles.
Iotapa and Belle Gallantey meet for the first time in the $2 million Distaff on Friday at Santa Anita – and could continue to pay dividends with strong performances. The two mares are among several Breeders’ Cup starters, highlighted by four Distaff entrants, entered to sell at Kentucky’s premier breeding stock auctions the week following the Breeders’ Cup. The one-night Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected fall mixed sale is Nov. 3, with the Keeneland November breeding stock sale kicking off its 11-day run on Nov. 4.
The Display Stakes kicks off the early pick four, which has a guaranteed pool of $100,000, Saturday at Woodbine.
Isn’t He Clever, Ol Winedrinker Who, and Forest Mouse – all multiple stakes winners who collectively have earned more than $1.7 million – are part of a deep cast for the Veterans Stakes on Monday at Zia Park.
A dream trip gave Cary Street an easy win in Friday’s $200,750 Las Vegas Marathon at Santa Anita, the first stakes of the two days of Breeders’ Cup races.
I think four horses can win the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf.
On Friday (10/31) the Meadowlands made two key moves, one to the racing calendar and another to change the landscape of stakes races. The New Jersey track will move the Cane Pace, the first leg of the Pacing Triple Crown, and the Shady Daisy to Hambletonian Day beginning in 2015. The track also decreed that trainers in early and late closer events starting with the meet that commences on November 14 will be limited to two horses in each race.
On Monday at Gulfstream Park West, Jorge Navarro will start It’s Not Me in one of the better races on the card, a $35,000 claiming sprint for 2-year-olds. Navarro claimed It’s Not Me for $16,000 out of a maiden win Oct. 20.
When Viva Majorca heads to post in the featured eighth race at Churchill Downs on Sunday, he will be wearing blinkers in an effort to eliminate the mistake he made in his last two races, trainer Ian Wilkes said.
With American Pharoah out of the Juvenile, the focus of the race shifts toward the East Coast and specifically to the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, who sends out two top contenders in Daredevil and Carpe Diem.
