ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ticker Tape Home joins the road to the Woodbine Oaks on Saturday against eight other Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies in the $125,000 Fury Stakes.
Trained by Mark Casse, Ticker Tape Home graduated easily over the seven-furlong distance of the Fury on the grass here in October, scoring by 9 3/4 lengths with an 84 Beyer. She went to on finish a chalky second against the boys in the Nov. 5 Display Stakes on Tapeta.
ELMONT, N.Y. – At Belmont Park on Saturday afternoon, about an hour from the Broadway stages of Manhattan, two of racing’s leading ladies will look for a high note in their Act 3. Multiple Grade 1 winner Clairiere and 2022 Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath meet for the third time this season in the Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes.
The winner of the Phipps will earn a fees-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff through the Win and You're In program.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap is one of the rare significant races missing from the résumé of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
Starting with Taylor’s Special in 1985 and through Speaker’s Corner last year, Mott has run in 13 editions of the Met Mile with the best finish a trio of third-place finishes, including last year when Speaker’s Corner ran third behind Flightline.
Mott hopes to fill in the blank Saturday at Belmont Park when he sends out Cody’s Wish as the probable favorite against eight others in a terrific renewal of the historic race.
Casa Creed has been aimed at a third straight edition of the Grade 1, $400,000 Jaipur Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park. Then Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel joined the fray, rerouted from Royal Ascot. But that compelling match-up has scared no one away. Casa Creed and Caravel are among a half-dozen graded stakes winners in the main body of an overflow field for the six-furlong turf tilt; there are 14 with preference to start, plus two also-eligibles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Technically, Angel of Empire will be getting a change of equipment when trainer Brad Cox adds blinkers for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
However, the blinkers are not totally new to Angel of Empire, who has frequently trained in them throughout his career, but never raced in them.
“I pretty much work everything in blinkers when they’re young,” Cox said.
But when Cox started running Angel of Empire a distance of ground, “I thought I’d just leave them off, let him relax, and it worked out well.”
Novo Sol’s appearance in Friday’s featured eighth race at Gulfstream Park is expected to set him up for a return to stakes action in Canada.
Novo Sol is part of a competitive field of eight older horses for the conditioned allowance that carries a claiming option of $62,500. It will be run over 1 1/16 miles on the local synthetic surface, Tapeta.
ELMONT, N.Y. – While War Like Goddess will be a deserving favorite in Friday’s Grade 1, $600,000 New York Stakes at Belmont Park, this looks to be the deepest non-Breeders’ Cup field she’s met to date.
The streaking Didia, the multiple group/graded winner With The Moonlight, four horses from the barn of Chad Brown, and the Grade 1-placed Flirting Bridge comprise the seven fillies and mares set to challenge the eight-time graded winner War Like Goddess.
“This is almost a Breeders’ Cup field,” said Ignacio Correas IV, trainer of Didia.
There are few names better to find in the pedigree of a Belmont Stakes candidate than Tapit – and he has an outsized mark on Saturday’s renewal. Tapit, who is seeking to claim outright the record he co-holds with the great Lexington as the Belmont’s leading sire, is the sire of entrants Tapit Trice and Tapit Shoes. He is also the broodmare sire of four other entrants in the nine-horse field, in Arcangelo, Hit Show, Il Miracolo, and Red Route One.
Bubble Rock leads the top four finishers from the License Fee Stakes last month into a cross-continental stand against California-based Amy C while looking for her third straight win in Friday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes for female turf sprinters at Belmont Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – First time out, take two.
Fast-working 2-year-old filly Pushiness will be one of the most heavily favored runners Friday at Santa Anita if she makes it to the gate. Last month, she did not make it to the walking ring.
Pushiness makes her career debut in the sixth race Friday, and expectations for the Michael McCarthy trainee will be as high as they were May 20, when she was favored to win the first race on the card.
