LEXINGTON, Ky. – While the fillies and mares sold during Kentucky’s major November mixed sales draw top billing and top dollar, the weanling market, although it has not broken into seven figures, has been strong and steady.
That strength has been noted by many as a result of what has been a solid yearling marketplace in recent years, with buyers now looking to get ahead of that with their purchase of even younger horses.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Christophe Clement’s New York shippers to Woodbine are usually live and he sends out first-time gelding Slipstream in Sunday’s featured conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option on the Tapeta.
A 4-year-old turf specialist, Slipstream took the Grade 3 Futurity as the highlight of his juvenile season. He ran just twice last year, beginning with a victory in the April 10 Palisades Stakes at Keeneland before a 17th-place finish in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at the Royal Ascot meet in England.
Thoroughbred racing flows through its own seasons that don’t necessarily accord with the calendar. The Breeders’ Cup ends the summer-fall period. This weekend opens the door to winter racing and on toward 2024 Classics. Full stakes fields abound. Hunker down by the fire with your Daily Racing Form.
Red Smith
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Two runners coming off just maiden wins and one off a disappointing effort in allowance company comprise a trio of 3-year-old fillies trainer Chad Brown sends out seeking his sixth victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 Pebbles Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Pebbles, at one mile on turf, goes as race 6 on a card that includes the Grade 2, $300,000 Red Smith Stakes.
Rhiannon, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, finished sixth on debut in the mud at Saratoga before winning a maiden race on turf by seven lengths at Aqueduct on Sept. 16.
Chi Chi and Big Effect will both have to overcome the rail post when they start as chief contenders in separate 2-year-old stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Big Effect breaks from the fence in the $60,000 Juvenile Sprint.
“I always hate the rail going short,” said trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.
Chi Chi starts from the inside in the $60,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint.
On Sept. 22, 2018, more than five years ago, Rockemperor won his career debut at Hyeres Racecourse, a tiny coastal track on the Ligurian Sea in far southern France. Saturday, Rockemperor travels to northwestern Kentucky, Churchill Downs, trying to snap a six-race losing streak dating to July 31, 2022.
You could say he’s in the right spot, since Rockemperor is favored on the morning line, but at 4-1, Rockemperor is a most tepid favorite, a price that speaks to the highly competitive nature of the Grade 3, $300,000 River City Stakes.
Intrepid Daydream stretches out in distance for the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park.
The Thirty Eight Go Go, for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, shares top billing with two $100,000 stakes for 2-year-olds at six furlongs, the James F. Lewis III and the Smart Halo for fillies.
A hulking 4-year-old weighing in at more than 1,100 pounds, Intrepid Daydream enters the Thirty Eight Go Go on a three-race win streak.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Prominent owner Mike Repole’s reputation as a breeder has grown this year. He campaigns Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Fierceness as a homebred and sold the Keeneland September yearling sale topper, from that same family.
Class matters, particularly on turf and almost always in routes. But traditional handicapping gets disrupted in the fall at Del Mar.
Under normal circumstances, graded winners such as Dolce Zel and Turnerloose would be tough to beat in a restricted stakes such as the $75,000 Kathryn Crosby. But in the brief and curious history of the filly-mare turf mile, no favorite has been safe and no longshot can be tossed.
