Mister Omaha and Miss Code West will be stepping into new divisions at Remington Park Friday night, when each seeks to add to their record of Oklahoma Classics stakes wins.
Mister Omaha, who won last year’s Juvenile, goes in the $175,000 Classics Cup Handicap, and Miss Code West, who has won the Lassie and the Distaff Handicap, starts in the $130,000 Distaff Turf.
The races are among eight stakes on the Oklahoma Classics Night program. They are worth a collective $1,040,000.
Not even dubious social media rumors can hamper Ka Ying Rising’s status as the odds-on favorite in Friday’s Group 1 Everest Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia.
The 2024-25 Horse of the Year in Hong Kong, Ka Ying Rising will start away from Hong Kong for the first time in the $13.09 million Everest Stakes at six furlongs, the world’s richest sprint.
Twice in the last five years, the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint has gone to a horse coming from Europe, with Glass Slippers breaking through for the international set in 2020 at Keeneland, and Starlust upsetting the race last year at Del Mar. The international contingent coming to Del Mar for this year’s renewal will become clearer after this weekend, with who runs – or doesn’t run – on British Champions Day Saturday playing a role.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Before he ships Sweet Azteca and Ag Bullet to Del Mar next week to prepare for Breeders’ Cup races, trainer Richard Baltas has business to take care of at Santa Anita on Friday.
Baltas has contenders in four races Friday, each runner is the first or second favorite on the morning line – Prime and Ready, race 1; Artisma, race 3; Without a Pout, race 6; and Debby’s Gal, race 9. Baltas figures to win at least one race Friday, but no guarantees.
Straight No Chaser will attempt to become just the fourth horse to register back-to-back victories in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. If successful, he will join an exclusive list that includes Midnight Lute (2007-08), Roy H (2017-18), and most recently Elite Power, who captured the Sprint in 2022 and 2023.
Keeneland hosted a 2-year-old turf route stakes, the Bourbon, on Oct. 5. Final Score won it, Turf Star finished second, and Gordon Pass closed for third. The connections of all three colts hope to move on to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
The complexion of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint changed this week when trainer Aidan O’Brien revealed that he is more likely to keep the accomplished filly True Love sprinting rather than stretching her out to a mile in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on the same day.
“We’re probably leaning toward the Sprint,” O’Brien told Daily Racing Form’s Steve Andersen in a rundown of his Breeders’ Cup roster, while emphasizing that race decisions have yet to be finalized.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Heading into this week, Rafael Hernandez maintained a slim 105-100 lead over apprentice Pietro Moran atop Woodbine’s jockey standings.
Moran, on Light the Lamp, will try to catch Hernandez and the speedy Silent Reserve in Friday’s featured conditioned allowance. The five-furlong inner turf dash drew four others in the seventh on an eight-race card that has a 4:30 p.m. post time.
Recent history favors the undefeated Final Accord, who will race at a mile for the first time in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
In the 17 runnings of the race, two winners have been tried at a mile for the first time and won the Juvenile Fillies Turf – Meditate at Keeneland in 2022 and Lake Victoria at Del Mar last year. They were trained by Aidan O’Brien of Ireland.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The last time Trikari ran 1 3/16 miles on turf at Aqueduct, he won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby. That was in July 2024, a year in which Trikari won 4 of 8 starts, including three graded stakes.
The next time Trikari runs 1 3/16 miles on turf at Aqueduct, it will be Friday in a multi-conditioned allowance race as the $1.39 million earner looks to get back on track in a 4-year-old season that has not gone according to plan.
