If you card it, they will come.
The inaugural Turfway Park Synthetic Championships program Saturday night features four stakes worth a combined $1 million. The races, previously on separate cards during the winter, were shifted to the same date and given robust purse hikes to create a showcase program.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fashionably Fab will try to bolster her case for Canadian champion older female honors in Saturday’s $100,000 La Prevoyante Stakes at Woodbine. The 1 1/16-mile route for Ontario-sired fillies and mares lured five others, including her Kevin Attard-trained stablemate War Painter.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said the manner in which Glee has handled the surface at Remington Park is the reason he has targeted the track’s $75,000 Toby Keith for her two-turn debut Friday night. The one-mile race for 2-year-old fillies is one of six stakes on a card led by the $300,000 Springboard Mile.
The races close out the season and Friday’s card has a special first post of 5 p.m. Central.
Glee was last seen at Remington in October, romping by 15 1/4 lengths in the E.L. Gaylord Stakes. For the effort, she earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 78.
The notable debut winner Speed King takes on stakes winners Jolly Samurai, Mister Omaha, and Coal Battle in Friday night’s $300,000 Springboard Mile, a Kentucky Derby points race that closes out the meet at Remington Park.
The race for 2-year-olds offers points to the first five finishers on a scale of 10-5-3-2-1. It’s being showcased on a 12-race card that begins at 5 p.m. Central. There are six stakes worth a cumulative $625,000 on the program.
From Oklahoma to Southern California, two of trainer Doug O’Neill’s juveniles face important trials in late-season stakes.
On Friday, Dr. Ruben M, the winner of a maiden race at Santa Anita on Oct. 14, will have his stakes debut in the $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.
On Saturday, Rank, winless in five starts, is scheduled to run in the Grade 2, $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles.
The promising Sandman will look to continue his development on Friday when he meets the exciting New York-bred Calling Card in the seventh race at Oaklawn Park. The first-level allowance for 2-year-olds at one mile drew a field of 10.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York-breds Caldwell Luvs Gold and Striker Has Dial both return to the dirt as they face open company going seven furlongs in Friday’s first-level allowance feature on a 10-race Aqueduct program. First post Friday is 11:40 a.m. for a card that includes four races brought back from the Dec. 5 card that was canceled due to high winds.
Caldwell Luvs Gold, a daughter of Goldencents trained by Brad Cox, is a two-time New York-bred stakes winner on dirt having captured the Seeking the Ante at Saratoga in 2023 and the New York Oaks at Finger Lakes in July.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The month of December has already been a good one for trainer George Weaver, starting with Sacred Wish’s upset victory over Gina Romantica in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar. On Saturday, Weaver is hoping his December will get even better when he sends out the improving Live High Live Low against a full field of 11 other 3-year-olds in the $140,000 Tropical Park Derby.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The promising Humber River makes his second start in Friday’s co-featured Ontario-sired allowance for 2-year-olds at Woodbine and should be favored in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for nonwinners of two.
Trained by Robert Tiller, Humber River dueled for the lead with stablemate Red Weaver when they both debuted Nov. 24. With Daisuke Fukumoto aboard, Humber River prevailed over Red Weaver in the six-furlong maiden event and got a 73 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest in Friday’s field.
With four wins from his first 20 starters, Juan Arriagada is in a three-way tie atop the trainer standings at the fledgling Tampa Bay Downs meet.
He’s not entirely happy.
Arriagada explained that he had an even-money favorite get scratched in the gate and had another horse break poorly, compromising its chances to win.
