Retama: Waupaca keeps rolling

Waupaca's tour of the region will continue when he ships from his Oklahoma City base to San Antonio for the $50,000 Retama Park Turf Breeders' Cup Handicap. Already this summer, Waupaca has won stakes at Lone Star Park and Louisiana Downs.

On the strength of those wins, he will start as the 121-pound highweight in the Retama, a 1 1/16-mile race on turf. Waupaca will be spotting his rivals between five and seven pounds and will break from the outside post in the field of six.

The outside draw should serve Waupaca well. Formerly a front-runner, he has been more willing to come from off the pace in his races this season. He used stalking tactics when he won the $40,000 Connecting Terms, an overnight handicap at Lone Star.

In his most recent start, Waupaca took advantage of his inside draw in the $50,000 Independence at Louisiana Downs on July 4 and was in command of the race soon after the start, winning by 1 3/4 lengths. Since then, he has been working at Remington Park.

Donnie Von Hemel trains Waupaca, a winner of 10 of 28 starts and $299,275. Cliff Berry, the leading rider at Remington, will travel to Retama to ride Waupaca, who is owned by Wayne Sanders.

Sigint has moved into the region from Southern California, where in his last start he finished eighth in the Grade 2 American Invitational after pushing winner Whilly in the early stages. Whilly is to run Saturday in the Arlington Million.

Sigint will be making his first start for trainer Barry Germany and will be ridden by Jeremy Beasley.