Kopion went from a 37-1 upset winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita last December to the focus of attention when she recorded a smart victory at 5-2 in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 3.
Jockey Kazushi Kimura was aboard for those wins, and he has a firm opinion of where Kopion rates among the leading runners he’s ridden in his seven-year career.
“She’s the best,” he said.
Coal Battle began his career last July at Evangeline Downs. September found him racing at Kentucky Downs. In October, he started at Keeneland. In November, it was back to Louisiana, Delta Downs this time, and in December, trainer Lonnie Briley sent him to Remington Park to win the Springboard Mile. Coal Battle wintered at Oaklawn, winning the Smarty Jones in January and the Rebel in February. In March, Coal Battle took a sound defeat in the Arkansas Derby, and on May 3 he checked in 11th in the Kentucky Derby.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Win for the Money has not started since a seventh-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup Turf 5 1/2 months ago at Gulfstream Park, but his trainer, Mark Casse, will be beaming with confidence when he sends the Grade 1 winner out against seven rivals going one mile over the inner turf Saturday at Saratoga in the $175,000 Kelso Stakes.
Marksman Queen, a British-bred 5-year-old mare trained by Graham Motion, will return to graded stakes competition as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the Grade 3, $250,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park on Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Steve Asmussen has won five editions of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and three runnings of the Grade 1 Hopeful. Amazingly, the Hall of Fame trainer who is closing in on 11,000 career victories has yet to win the Grade 3 Sanford, the first of three graded races for 2-year-olds held annually at Saratoga.
The Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park draws the dividing line between the spring classics and the important middle-distance races of summer and autumn, a 1 1/4-mile contest that brings together leading 3-year-olds and upper-crust older horses. The sophomore set gets 10 pounds from older male rivals, yet the antepost betting markets on Thursday said even that’s not enough.
In the $40,000 River Rock Casino Stakes on June 14 at Hastings, the 3-year-old filly Chi Chi Time reared up in the gate before taking a sharp left turn from the inside post, nearly crashing into a white pickup truck before jockey Kuri Powell put her on the right path.
“My heart was in my throat,” said Chi Chi Time’s trainer, Pat Jarvis. “I was worried. Thank God Kuri stayed with her. He did an amazing job just to stay on.”
Halfway through this year, Into Mischief is in a familiar position atop the North American general sire list as he chases his seventh consecutive earnings title.
Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, has progeny earnings of $16,645,829 through June 30, according to Daily Racing Form statistics. His leading earner is dual classic winner Sovereignty, who has banked more than $4.7 million as one of Into Mischief’s nation-leading 13 individual stakes winners.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Christophe Clement had one of his most lucrative days as a trainer when he won the $2 million Canadian International with Relaxed Gesture and the $500,000 Nearctic Stakes with Steel Light on the same Woodbine card in 2005.
Trainer Doug Anderson will attempt to rack up a few wins for the home team Friday night when he sends out local prep winners Glengarry and Insensitive in stakes making up the first card of the annual Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows.
Glengarry is the probable favorite in the $100,000 Iowa Sprint, while Insensitive will start as a chief contender in the $100,000 Iowa Distaff that also drew millionaire Hoosier Philly.
