ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The road to the Aug. 20 King’s Plate begins in earnest Sunday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Queenston Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Trainer Kevin Attard, who won last year’s $1 million Queen’s Plate with Moira, is sending out reigning Canadian champion male 2-year-old Philip My Dear and Moon Landing.
Reservoir heads a field of eight $25,000 claimers in Sunday’s 5 1/2-furlong feature race at Emerald Downs.
Trained by Blaine Wright, Reservoir was a beaten favorite under similar conditions four weeks ago and will race with blinkers for the first time as she looks to make amends.
“She ran okay last time,” Wright said. “Hard to make ground up at [Emerald] sometimes. Added a blinker just to see if it sparks her a bit.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – The post positions – and a handful of riding assignments – have changed, but the field for the Grade 2, $200,000 Wonder Again Stakes remains the same when the 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies runs Sunday at Belmont Park.
The Wonder Again was originally scheduled for Thursday, but that card was canceled due to unhealthy air quality in the New York region from the Canadian wildfires. The Wonder Again, and rescheduled Jersey Girl from Thursday, join the Astoria and Tremont – stakes for 2-year-olds – as part of an 11-race program that begins at 1:05 p.m.
To saddle Lets Leave, Caramel Macchiato, and Wired 440 for Sunday’s $1 million Ruidoso Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, trainer Eric Valenzuela went on vacation.
Valenzuela, who turns 40 on Sunday, is a full-time firefighter in Douglas, Ariz. On non-futurity weeks, he spends part of the time in Douglas and part of the time overseeing his stable in Ruidoso.
The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. concludes its annual trio of 2-year-olds in training sales with its June sale, which through the years has produced some diamonds in the rough for savvy horsemen.
The OBS June sale is billed as an open sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age, but juveniles dominate. Accounting for supplemental entries, there are 1,074 juveniles and 13 older horses cataloged for the three-session sale, which begins Tuesday.
The Triple Crown concludes with the Belmont Stakes. A lucrative summer begins for sophomores with the Grade 3, $400,000 Matt Winn Stakes on Sunday at Ellis Park.
Four colts emerging from the Kentucky Derby, the best finisher among them fourth-place Disarm, lead the field of seven. The Matt Winn will be run at the slightly extended distance of nine furlongs due to the configuration of the Ellis racing surface. The race was originally scheduled to be 1 1/16 miles. The remainder of the Churchill Downs meet has been shifted to Ellis due to safety concerns.
Gulfstream Park will put the spotlight on 3-year-olds who race over a route of ground Saturday in both the $75,000 Not Surprising and $75,000 Martha Washington.
The races will be held over 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta track. They highlight a 12-race card that starts at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
The Martha Washington, for fillies, is up first as the fourth race. The field of eight drew four runners coming off wins, led by Honor D Lady.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Despite the unexpected glitch of missing a day of training Thursday due to poor air quality in the local area, the serious work had already been done preparing the nine members of this year’s Belmont Stakes field for the main event on Saturday.
With that in mind, it’s time to take one final look at just how those preparations have gone the previous two weeks. The majority of the training took place locally, but this report also includes the Brad Cox-trained trio of Belmont starters, who did all their major work at Churchill Downs.
There is a simple reason Rager has not raced on turf at Golden Gate Fields this year in advance of Saturday’s $50,000 Albany Stakes at five furlongs on grass.
“He hasn’t had the opportunity,” trainer Tim McCanna said.
Rager has won his last two starts in allowance-optional claimng company on the synthetic main track. He was eligible to be claimed for $62,500 in both races. In the Albany, Rager will race on grass for the first time since August 2021 against eight rivals.
