Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has wanted to try Soul of an Angel at seven furlongs from the time she joined his barn via a private purchase earlier this year. He finally gets that opportunity Saturday at Gulfsteam Park when sending Soul of an Angel out with an eye toward a potential start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in the $220,000 Princess Rooney Invitational, the main event on the track’s spring-summer stakes schedule.
Batten Down and Hades have faced some of the best of this 3-year-old crop. Both find, perhaps, a softer spot as they and some other stakes-seasoned sophomores meet in the $300,000 Bourbon Flight Stakes going 1 3/16 miles on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
It’s not so much what Next will do in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing that’s intriguing, it’s what Next will do, well, next.
The recent announcement that the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes, run Breeders’ Cup weekend at Del Mar, has been changed from a marathon dirt race for older males to a one-mile turf race for 2-year-olds mean’s Saturday’s Greenwood Cup at 1 1/2 miles is the last marathon dirt race of the year for Next, a marathon dirt specialist.
Coming off a performance that blemished only her record, not her reputation, Thorpedo Anna looks to start a new winning streak when she gets back in with 3-year-old fillies in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx.
Trainer Phil Bauer had a career year by both earnings (more than $3.9 million) and wins (33) last year, and he saddled his first Grade 1 winner when Played Hard took the La Troienne. This year, the trainer is ticking off some more high-profile milestones.
Bauer’s stable star at the moment is Jonathan’s Way, who won the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes, the first points race toward the 2025 Kentucky Derby, last Saturday at Churchill Downs. The colt is training up to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November.
Uncertainty has blurred the autumn campaign of the top older female at Santa Anita, but filly-mare clarity is on display this weekend at Los Alamitos.
Saturday is showtime for Show Card.
Show Card’s recent runaway in a restricted stakes hardly compares to Grade 1 winner Adare Manor, but the 10-length romp stamps Show Card the likely winner of the $125,000 Dark Mirage Stakes. Bob Baffert trains Show Card and Adare Manor, the division leader and a question mark.
Trainer Mark Casse hopes Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Turf Monster Stakes at Parx Racing leads to bigger and better things for Souper Quest.
“I’d love to run him in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar because I think it would suit him,” Casse said. “I’m just trying to get his résumé a little better.”
The Turf Monster, for 3-year-olds and up, will be contested at five furlongs over a turf course that reopened Monday following a several-week shutdown over safety concerns.
A 4-year-old Munnings colt, Souper Quest finished third 17 days ago in the Harvey Pack at Saratoga.
OZONE PARK N.Y. – Edict, the new gal on the block, will bring a little measure of intrigue to the main event on Saturday’s Belmont at Aqueduct program, the $175,000 Noble Damsel Stakes for older fillies and mares at a mile on the turf.
Named Florida-bred 2-year-old male champion after winning 4 of 5 starts last year, Bentornato looks to return to the winner’s circle in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Gallant Bob Stakes for 3-year-olds over six furlongs at Parx Racing.
If variety is the spice of life, then Bentornato’s sophomore campaign has been flavorful, to say the least.
