GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Touchuponastar, who has won his last five starts with triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, and Komorebino Omoide and Heroic Move, who have won the last two runnings of the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park, lead a deep cast for the race’s renewal on Monday.
“It’s a quality field to say the least,” said Jake Delhomme, the owner of Touchuponastar. “A lot of good horses – so many to look at.”
When the 4-year-old Thought Process starts in Monday’s Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita, she will race for the first time in more than 12 weeks and for the second time in the last nine months.
The recent gap would be an issue for trainer Phil D’Amato were it not for a five-furlong workout in 58.60 seconds by Thought Process on May 18.
“Her last drill answered all questions,” D’Amato said. “It was ultra impressive. She couldn’t blow out a match. My jaw dropped. It was the ease in which she did everything and the way she did it all.
The Memorial Day card at Finger Lakes is highlighted by the 41st edition of the $50,000 George Barker Stakes, the traditional kickoff to the track’s stakes schedule. The six-furlong sprint for older New York-breds has become something of a traditional stop for Lady’s Golden Guy.
The 9-year-old elder statesman will be making his fifth consecutive start in the Barker – and is looking for an outright win in a bulky field of 12.
The Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Monday is a chance for redemption for British Isles.
A 5-year-old gelding, British Isles delivered the most comprehensive performance of his four-year career with his first stakes win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on March 7.
British Isles followed that 4 1/2-length victory with a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland on April 18. He was second on the turn before fading from contention.
If ever a horse looked ready to make her stakes debut, it is Kapoor on Monday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $250,000 Winning Colors.
Four-year-old Kapoor began her career during the first part of 2025 with a pair of thirds. Since then, she has been second to none. Returning in January from a layoff, she has gone 3 for 3 with a combined margin of victory of 16 1/2 lengths. Trainer Bill Mott keeps stepping Kapoor up in class. Kapoor keeps stepping up.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Snide finished second to the stakes-bound Point of Reference when she stepped into open allowance company two weeks ago at Aqueduct. Monday, Snide returns to the starter allowance/optional-claiming ranks where the competition is a bit softer, making her a top contender in the Memorial Day feature.
He was excellent as a 3-year-old in 2024 and brilliant last year at 4. Understandably, Formidable Man carries high expectations when he starts for the first time as a 5-year-old in Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita.
Consider his record in the second half of 2025. Formidable Man won consecutive starts in Grade 2 races on turf at Del Mar last summer – the Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in July, and the Del Mar Mile in late August.
Jack Fisher might not have the favorite in the $50,000 Valentine Memorial Stakes on Monday at Fair Hill, but he will have the numbers in the 2 1/4-mile hurdle race. The trainer has three outside contenders entered in the field of 12 and said he is eager to get back to stakes action over the renovated Maryland turf course.
“It’s great to have it back,” Fisher said. “It’s beautiful turf and a beautiful meet.”
Despite rain this week, and the cancellation of Sunday’s flat racing at Fair Hill, Monday’s Steeplechase program was scheduled to be held as of Saturday morning.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Sunday’s second-level allowance/optional $80,000 claiming feature is a solid race regardless on which surface it is run.
Scheduled for six furlongs over the outer turf course, the race is in jeopardy of being rained off the grass due to a Memorial Day weekend forecast that calls for rain Saturday through Monday.
