After facing division leader Thorpedo Anna in her last two starts, Power Squeeze, one of the more underrated 3-year-old fillies in the crop, gets some class relief in Monday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Delaware Oaks at 1 1/16 miles.
Trained by Jorge Delgado for Lea Farms, Power Squeeze reeled off four consecutive victories heading into the Kentucky Oaks, where she ran sixth racing wide over a sealed, sloppy track.
Stronghold won the Santa Anita Derby, E J Won the Cup the Texas Derby, but while Dragoon Guard has landed no derbies and never faced stakes competition, he could wind up favored Saturday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby.
Brad Cox trains Dragoon Guard for his breeder, Juddmonte Farms, and Cox has won the Indiana Derby twice in the last four years, including the 2023 renewal with Verifying. Dragoon Guard lost his lone start at age 2 but returned at 3 with eye-catching maiden and first-level allowance wins, the latter at a one-turn mile, as far as Dragoon Guard has run.
The Smile Sprint at Gulfstream Park lost its graded status this season for the first time in 21 years, although Saturday’s renewal has drawn a graded stakes-caliber lineup led by 2023 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner Sibelius, who makes his first start since finishing a disappointing 11th when attempting to defend his title earlier this spring at Meydan.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It has been a tale of two trips for Legend of Time in North America. After his pace-pressing style led to defeat in the American Turf at Churchill, Legend of Time went last to first to win the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge at Aqueduct.
August Rain remains the horse to beat as 3-year-old stakes horses stretch out to 1 1/16 miles in the $50,000 Chris Loseth Handicap on Saturday at Hastings.
A Barbara Heads trainee, August Rain won the Ascot Graduation over 1 1/16 miles as a 2-year-old in what has been his only route start.
“August Rain has trained well” since taking the 6 1/2-furlong Ross McLeod Stakes on June 15, Heads said. “He has a tendency to be a bit lazy when he works, but [jockey Amadeo Perez] does a great job to keep him focused.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse has a lot going on at Woodbine this summer.
Champion 2-year-old My Boy Prince is pointing to the July 20 Plate Trial Stakes. Marine Stakes first- and third-place finishers Essex Serpent and Midnight Mascot will likely train up to the Aug. 17 King’s Plate. And Canadian champions Paramount Prince and Filo Di Arianna both won graded stakes last Saturday.
Bettors will have to roll the dice on debuting Precise Timing in the $50,000 Angie C. Stakes at Emerald Downs on Saturday. The race features seven 2-year-old fillies who have started a combined four times.
The Angie C. is the first stakes of the meet for juvenile fillies. The group includes a single previous winner in Her Blind Side, who prevailed by a neck in a $15,000 maiden-claiming event on June 22.
Olga Isabel came out running in her seasonal debut and has a license to make another move forward in Friday night’s $100,000 Saylorville, which is part of the $1.2 million Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows.
The festival is comprised of eight stakes – four on Friday worth a cumulative $400,000 and another four on Saturday night worth a total of $875,000. First post for both cards is 6 p.m. Central.
No trainer took a harder hit when Churchill Downs Inc. shuttered Arlington Park in 2021 than Larry Rivelli, whose season revolved around the suburban Chicago racecourse. Even sans Arlington, Rivelli sent out 14 stakes winners during 2022 and again in 2023, but this year has brought greater struggle. Through July 2, Rivelli had only two stakes starters, neither of whom won, and Rivelli’s strong chance to get off the stakes duck, with Nobals in Friday’s $100,000 William Garrett Handicap, depends heavily on weather.
The 6-year-old Argentine mare Didia ran the best race of her career – at least the North American part of it – winning the Grade 1 New York Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga, and Didia is going back for more.
After Didia turned in an excellent workout Wednesday morning at her Keeneland base, trainer Ignacio Correas said the mare would be shipped to Saratoga on Sunday to start there July 13 in the Grade 1 Diana.
