ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Swift Delivery, reportedly named with pop star Taylor Swift in mind, made headlines this week when her beau, football star Travis Kelce, bought into him through co-owner Team Valor International. The Mark Casse-trained steel gray will try to live up to all the hype in his stakes debut in Saturday’s $125,000 Toronto Cup at Woodbine.
War Beat moved up with the help of an equipment change in his most recent start and the performance will make the half-brother to $2 million earner Catholic Boy one of the top choices in a competitive fifth race Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
The first-level allowance for Florida-breds is the feature on an 11-race card. It will be run at 1 1/16 miles on turf and offers a claiming option of $20,000.
War Beat is part of a field of eight that includes Reminder, who finished just in front of him last out and could go favored, and the consistent Private Thoughts.
All turf sprints are not created equal. A quick-twitch horse who excels going 5 1/2 furlongs might fail to see out six. And the Grade 2 Ladies Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs asks even more of a filly. Carded for 6 1/2 furlongs, a long run-up makes this contest more like seven, taxing for those short sprinters but made to order for “tweeners” who occupy a space between true route racing and short sprints.
Slew’s Tiz Whiz is the horse to beat in Saturday’s one-mile, no-conditions allowance feature at Emerald Downs. Fresh off of a close third-place finish in the $150,000 Longacres Mile, the Tom Wenzel trainee will meet five others, a trio of whom finished behind him in the Mile.
Having won the Mile in 2022, the son of Slew’s Tiznow was third in the race a year ago. His strong finish in this year’s renewal was overshadowed in many corners by the come-from-behind nose victory of Five Star General.
Things did not go as hoped for the 3-year-old colt Bellum Justum in the Derby at Epsom Downs. They may work out better in the Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs.
Bellum Justum has pace and should have raced near the lead June 1 as a 16-1 shot in the Derby, but he broke poorly and got stuck in mid-pack traffic, eventually checking in seventh – not a bad showing in a 16-runner field won by perhaps the world’s best 3-year-old, City of Troy.
Gulfstream leading rider Edgard Zayas will spend part of this final week of the Royal Palm meet at Kentucky Downs, but he has already wrapped up the title at Gulfstream.
Zayas had won 112 races from 442 mounts at the meet through Thursday, according to statistics from Equibase. Emisael Jaramillo ranks second in the standings with 87 wins from 371 starts.
The meet, which ends Sunday, started April 4.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. sends out a pair of 3-year-old fillies by Bucchero on turf Friday, and both are looking for their first win on the surface in the featured first-level allowance at Gulfstream.
The eighth race is a five-furlong sprint restricted to fillies and mares bred in Florida.
Bucchero was a multiple graded stakes winner sprinting on turf.
Joseph on Friday saddles The Dove Rules and Breezero in the field of eight.
Comedy Town has taken his game to a new level since moving to dirt this summer at Gulfstream Park and now the plan is to test the waters against graded stakes company.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Comedy Town is being pointed to the Grade 2, $350,000 Phoenix on Oct. 4 at Keeneland, going six furlongs against 3-year-olds and up.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Rebel Red runs in the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes on Sunday he will be making his first start since losing his left eye in a stall accident.
There have been some horses who have run well in their careers with just one eye, such as Pollard’s Vision, Patch, and Un Ojo.
“Horses that I know of always ran without an eye and they adjusted to it,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “This is a little bit different because he had run with full vision in both eyes. This is a significant change.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After getting what trainer Tom Morley calls “penalty kicks” while easily defeating New York-bred competition in his last two starts, The Big Torpedo is in for the biggest test of his still young career when he returns to open company to take on five rivals in Friday’s $175,000 Saranac at Saratoga.
The Grade 3 Saranac, for 3-year-olds, will be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the turf and has lured a compact but well-matched field that includes the very dangerous-looking Brad Cox-trained duo of West Hollywood and Take Me To Church.
