ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It’s been three years since Town Cruise won the $1.1 million Woodbine Mile in a storybook upset. Now the 9-year-old gelding’s racing career is winding down, according to owner-trainer Brandon Greer.
Town Cruise was winless during a brief four-race campaign in 2022 that included a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. He scored once in five starts last year and only recently appeared on the work tab this year.
Louie the First looks to rebound while dropping in class in Friday’s $15,000 claiming feature over six furlongs at Emerald Downs.
The Blaine Wright trainee was the narrow winner of a maiden race June 29 in a deceptively good effort. He broke slowly and was soon crowded and steadied. Rather than collect himself and make the most of the battle brewing up front, Louie the First immediately joined in and eventually bested them.
A yearling full brother to Free Like a Girl who topped a Texas auction at Lone Star Park late last month will eventually be sent to trainer Bret Calhoun, according to Josh Stevens, the agent who handled the purchase of the horse on behalf of Mansfield Racing.
Jockey Ramon Vazquez has won riding titles at a number of tracks like Santa Anita and Remington Park, but never at his home base of Oaklawn.
He’s hoping that might change when the season starts anew in December.
Vazquez, who has been based in New York, said over the weekend that following the close of Saratoga he will be riding in Kentucky, then head to Oaklawn. He has a house in Hot Springs, Ark.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gary Contessa didn’t pull off a Grade 1 stakes surprise this summer at Saratoga like he did last year, but he may try to do something similar at Aqueduct.
Another Cleeshay, a New York-bred filly who won her debut by 9 1/2 lengths on Friday, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Frizette on Oct. 5 at Aqueduct, Contessa said.
“She might be a New York-bred stakes horse, she might be a Frizette horse, so I’m going to take the shot and go to the Frizette,” Contessa said Monday. “You know I like to shoot high.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Arthur’s Ride, the Grade 1 Whitney winner who faded to fifth in Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup after dueling with Highland Falls, will train up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, trainer Bill Mott said Monday.
Mott was naturally disappointed in the result of the Gold Cup, but he said Arthur’s Ride looked good Monday and feels he should benefit from having nine weeks to the Classic.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Between Monday and Tuesday, trainer Brad Cox had horses lined up to ship from Saratoga to five different tracks. After the weekend the Cox stable enjoyed, those vans were carrying even more precious cargo than perhaps anticipated.
Highland Falls, winner of Sunday’s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Immersive, winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Spinaway were scheduled to ship Tuesday to Churchill Downs as they prepare for their fall campaigns, which Cox and owner Godolphin Racing hope includes starts at the Breeders’ Cup in November at Del Mar.
The conclusion of Kentucky Downs weekend stakes action did not sit well with jockey Jose Ortiz and trainer Mike Maker. Under Who’s Radar, Ortiz up for Maker, crossed the line first but was disqualified for interference in the Juvenile Sprint, worth a shade less than $900,000. Ouch. But Stir Crazy could salve that wound in the Thursday feature at Kentucky Downs, the $500,000 One Dreamer Stakes.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Attendance rose modestly while all-sources handle fell sharply on Saturday’s Pacific Classic program at Del Mar, the richest day of racing at the track’s summer meeting.
According to figures released Saturday evening, all-sources handle was $22,879,604, a decline from $27,757,766 from the corresponding day in 2023. Saturday’s handle figure was the lowest for a Pacific Classic program since the day produced a handle of $19.3 million in 2015.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A horse without a share in nine career starts is usually a toss, but that’s not the case with Heliocentric in Thursday’s fourth race for $25,000 maiden fillies and mares.
Heliocentric has competed exclusively in maiden special weight company for Shelley Fitzgerald, one of the most underrated trainers at Woodbine. The 4-year-old finished fifth in 2 of 5 outings last year, during which she earned several Beyer Speed Figures in the 60s.
