DEL MAR, Calif. – Big City Lights, runaway winner of the Cary Grant Stakes for California-bred sprinters Nov. 9 at Del Mar, will stay with California-bred company for his next start. Trainer Richard Mandella said Big City Lights will target the $150,000 Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint tentatively scheduled for Jan. 11 at Santa Anita.
The Cary Grant was Big City Lights’s fourth stakes win, and sixth win overall. A 5-year-old, Big City Lights has started only 12 times.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Even though Practical Dream’s front-running victory in the seven-furlong Desi Arnaz Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar did not earn much of a figure, it sets her up for a shot at two turns in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Starlet on Dec.7 at Los Alamitos. Practical Dream earned a 74 Beyer Speed Figure, the lowest by a Desi Arnaz winner since the race moved from Hollywood Park to Del Mar in 2014.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Though she upset Grade 1 winner Tamara on Friday at Del Mar, the unbeaten stakes winner Sandy Bottom received less notoriety for winning her comeback than the filly she beat. Not that trainer Michael McCarthy is complaining. He is happy Sandy Bottom made it back.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Has Charlie’s Wish found a new home on the Tapeta in light of her impressive victory in the Ginger Punch Stakes, or is she just so handy it doesn’t really matter what track she competes over these days?
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As impressive as With the Angels has been on the front end, trainer Linda Rice may try to experiment by having the undefeated filly attempt to come from off the pace in Sunday’s $100,000 Key Cents Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.
The experiment would have been a lot more tempting had With the Angels not drawn the rail for this six-furlong heat.
“She has enough gate speed to figure it out,” Rice said. “I don’t love the draw. I was hoping for the five or six hole, but it is what it is.”
The California 2-year-old division gets a reset Sunday at Del Mar, where a pair of impressive maiden winners move up in class to face an established stakes-placed colt who is moving down.
Bullard and Kalea Bay meet Grade 1-placed McKinzie Street in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint that does not include Breeders’ Cup Juvenile one-two finishers Citizen Bull and Gaming. They are in light training at Santa Anita with Bob Baffert, who said Citizen Bull is done for the year and Gaming is “possible” for the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 14.
An ungraded stakes race with a $135,000 purse isn’t usually where you’ll find global powers Godolphin and Coolmore tackling each other, but Sunday’s Tepin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct offers such a showdown when Godolphin’s She’s All Charm meets Coolmore’s Isle of Capri in the one-mile event that will be the final turf race of the year in New York.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer John Ross runs Junior Hot Shot and Garafoli in the $100,000 Lake Ontario Stakes, while Hurricane Clair should be favored for trainer Marty Drexler in the $100,000 Ashbridges Bay Stakes. At 1 1/16 miles, the two stakes are the anchor legs of the Ontario Sired Heritage Series, a four-race series for each sex for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds on Sunday at Woodbine.
Sunday's Woodbine card also will feature a $137,621 carryover in the early pick five (Races 2-6).
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Jack and Jim and Not for Hire may have less seasoning than their fellow 2-year-olds entered in Saturday’s $150,000 Central Park Stakes, they are two of several contenders in a seemingly wide-open renewal of the one-mile turf stakes at Aqueduct.
The Central Park drew a field of 11, but only 10 may run as the rails on the outer turf course are out 18 feet.
