Johannes has a perfect record in three starts this year that will be highly difficult, and perhaps impossible, to sustain over the next five weeks.
A 4-year-old colt, Johannes will be favored in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf Saturday at Santa Anita. In the spring, Johannes won his first two starts of the year at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile in April and Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile in May, both on turf.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The richest turf sprint at Santa Anita, excluding Breeders’ Cup, shapes up Saturday as the most attractive betting race on the California Crown card.
Eleven horses, led by East Coast shipper Big Invasion, sprint 6 1/2 furlongs on the hill in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes. The $750,000 purse is not far behind the $1 million BC Turf Sprint.
“It’s like the Breeders’ Cup before the Breeders’ Cup,” Big Invasion’s trainer Christophe Clement noted. “It’s a lot of money.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – There is something for everyone Saturday in the first stakes of the Santa Anita fall meet – shippers, comebackers, and a route-to-sprint local favorite in the $100,000 Unzip Me for 3-year-old sprint fillies on turf.
Stakes winners, including Toupie from the East Coast, comebacker Dreamfyre from Northern California, and Zona Verde based in Southern California top the Unzip Me, a hillside race that is the opening leg of a $1 all-stakes pick five (15 percent takeout) and $2 pick six (23.68 percent).
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Paramount Prince will be a short-priced favorite from the outside post 5 in Saturday’s Grade 3, $135,000 Durham Cup at Woodbine. Can anyone catch him in the 1 1/16-mile Tapeta route? Probably not.
The 2023 Canadian champion male 3-year-old and King’s Plate winner, Paramount Prince has been a front-running tour de force under Patrick Husbands, who has combined with trainer Mark Casse for 15 stakes wins at the meet.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When someone would ask Adrianne DeVaux when she would begin training horses on her own, her answer was always the same.
“Just give me five years,” said DeVaux, the younger sister of trainer Cherie DeVaux.
Well, that timeline has been pushed up a bit. Saturday, at Aqueduct, Adrianne DeVaux, 26, will send out her first starter when she runs the 2-year-old Shoot the Nickel in a maiden race for horses that sold for $50,000 or less at auction or did not reach their reserve of $50,000 or less.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Filoso, a maiden winner at Saratoga this summer, is heading to the Breeders’ Futurity to take advantage of the two turns.
“The two turns made the most sense,” said Chad Summers, who trains Filoso for owner Al Gold. “Is there an eye towards the Breeders’ Cup? Of course, but there’s also an eye toward his 3-year-old campaign. You want to see where you’re at and where you stack up.”
After finishing fourth on debut July 20, Filoso, a son of City of Light, won a one-mile maiden race by 3 1/2 lengths on Aug. 29 at Saratoga.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Ferocious, runner-up to Chancer McPatrick in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 2 at Saratoga, will make his next start in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 5 at Keeneland, part-owner Ramiro Restrepo said Tuesday.
Restrepo said the ability to stretch Ferocious out in distance and go two turns made the Breeders’ Futurity more appealing than the Grade 1, $400,000 Champagne, a one-turn mile race run the same day at Aqueduct.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Everything costs more in these inflationary times, and bettors could argue certain wagers this fall at Santa Anita also are more expensive. That would be inaccurate.
When the Santa Anita autumn meet begins Friday, minimum bet for the pick six will be raised from $1 to $2. But the true “cost” is takeout, and though the pick six takeout rate remains high at 23.68 percent, Santa Anita will introduce lower-takeout 15 percent wagers – a $3 late pick three and $5 late double.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In the absence of Spirit of St Louis from the field, Dakota Gold and City Man figure to take the most money in Friday’s $125,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes at Aqueduct. Neither has to win the 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for New York-breds.
Dakota Gold is coming off a last-to-first nose victory over Spirit of St Louis in the West Point Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25. Dakota Gold is winless in four starts at Aqueduct, though he finished second to Spirit of St Louis in the Hudson Valley here in July.
