ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Catherine Day Phillips has opted to run the wonderfully versatile Millie Girl in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf going 1 1/4 miles over the shorter Grade 2 Bessarabian on Saturday at Woodbine, a decision that wasn’t a no-brainer.
Stretch-running Millie Girl won her season opener in allowance company on Tapeta before finishing third in back-to-back turf Grade 2 turf stakes, the 6 1/2-furlong Royal North and behind Fev Rover and Moira in the one-mile Nassau.
By his standards, Brad Cox didn’t crush the 2023 Breeders’ Cup. He sent out Idiomatic, sure to be champion older female, to win the Distaff, but Cox’s other runners last weekend at Santa Anita failed to land a blow. Timberlake was a decent fourth in the Juvenile, but Zozos finished a flat fifth in the Dirt Mile, Wet Paint was eighth in the Distaff, and Matareya eighth in the Filly and Mare Sprint, while Caravel (Turf Sprint) and Saudi Crown (Classic) both checked in 10th.
Don’t worry too much about Cox. It’s not if but when his stable roars back to life.
The unbeaten Miss Code West will have some key variables in her favor Friday night when she attempts to conquer two turns in the $50,000 Slide Show at Remington Park. The race is one of three stakes on the card. The offerings are all restricted to horses bred in Oklahoma.
The Slide Show is for 2-year-old fillies at a mile and a field of eight has signed on for the race. Miss Code West has defeated all of her rivals, whether in a maiden special weight race over five furlongs Oct. 5 at Remington or the track’s Oklahoma Classics Night Lassie at six furlongs Oct. 20.
Freedom Principle will likely need to make a surface switch for his next start after winning his second straight race on Tapeta in the Armed Forces Stakes last Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
The son of Flameaway has raced exclusively on the synthetic surface – and around two turns – in his four-race career that has unfolded at Gulfstream.
Freedom Principle won a maiden special weight by more than seven lengths Oct. 8 and came back for a clear win in the Armed Forces, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 74.
A welcome change to the autumn wagering menu will complement high-level turf racing when Del Mar reopens Friday for its 10th annual fall meet.
Del Mar revived the traditional pick six and eliminated the single-ticket jackpot, replicating a change made this fall at Santa Anita. The reinstituted pick six is a $1 bet with a 70-30 payoff structure – 70 percent of the net pool to perfect tickets or carryover, 30 percent to consolations.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath will begin her broodmare career at Spendthrift Farm and will be bred to its leading sire, Into Mischief, after the operation purchased her for $3 million at the Fasig-Tipton November sale.
“Obviously, her race record needs no explanation,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. “She’s a big, classy mare. We think she’s really a perfect type of mare for Into Mischief. Really thrilled to get her.”
The emerging owner-trainer team of Willis Horton Racing and Eddie Milligan Jr. will be represented in both 2-year-old stakes Friday night at Delta Downs.
Tapit Jenallie should vie for favoritism in the $100,000 My Trusty Cat, while Twirling Troillet takes on probable favorite Good Like Magic and multiple stakes winner Strong Promise in the $100,000 Jean Lafitte.
Both races are for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs, which is a two-turn configuration at Delta.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mike Repole hopes to return Eclipse Award champion Nest to the races in 2024 to complete some “unfinished business,” after going to a co-sale-topping $6 million to buy out his partners in the filly at the Fasig-Tipton November sale on Tuesday.
Nest was co-campaigned to the 2022 Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly title by Repole, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Michael House, with trainer Todd Pletcher. Highgate Sales handled the consignment of the 4-year-old Curlin filly as a racing or broodmare prospect.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Owen Garber, who has spent about the last year in New York as an assistant to William Morey, has embarked on his own training career and sends out his first starter, Agent Creed, on Friday at Aqueduct in a New York-bred second-level allowance scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf.
