ELMONT, N.Y. - Complexity is bred to be fast. How far he’ll ultimately carry that speed remains to be seen. On Saturday, he certainly carried it far enough, easily recording a front-running three-length victory in the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park.
Code of Honor, who stumbled badly at the start, recovered to rally from last to be second, three lengths clear of Call Paul, who nosed out Aurelius Maximus to be third.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – On paper, the Grade 1, $500,000 Breeders' Futurity on Saturday at Keeneland appeared wide open, even more so after Hopeful Stakes winner Mind Control, the morning-line favorite, was scratched after being treated for a temperature.
But then, Knicks Go took a wide-open race and blew it wide, wide open, blitzing the field for a 5 1/2-length victory and returning $142 as the longest shot on the board.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in early October seems to arrive at the right time of year for Roy H.
Last year, Roy H won his first Grade 1 race in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and followed with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. He was later named the champion sprinter of 2017.
Roy H won for the first time on Saturday since February, and ended a two-race losing streak, with a commanding win in the $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship. He earned a fees-paid berth for the BC Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – That loud sigh of relief you may’ve heard Saturday afternoon came from trainer Brad Cox, who was only too happy to see Golden Mischief survive a jockey’s objection following the 38th running of the Grade 2, $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland.
“You know what happened two weeks ago,” said Cox, who indeed was chagrined by the Sept. 22 disqualification of his stable star, Monomoy Girl, from the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx for interference in deep stretch.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Bucchero came to Keeneland for the Grade 2, $200,000 Woodford Stakes a year ago as a 26-1 outsider and left as a winner. This year, expectations were different – with him starting as the 3-1 favorite in the race – although the result remained the same: another victory.
The Breeders’ Cup will debut a seven-part documentary series later this month featuring horses who are being pointed to this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and their connections, the company announced on Saturday.
The first episode of the series, called “All In: The Road to the Classic,” will debut on Oct. 22 on Facebook Watch, the Breeders’ Cup said, with additional episodes becoming available over “the following days.” The Classic, the richest race over the two-day Breeders’ Cup event, is scheduled for Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was Promises Fulfilled’s speed that put him in position to win Friday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Phoenix on opening day at Keeneland, but it was his heart that won it. Challenged by defending winner Whitmore in the stretch, he turned back that rival’s bid to post a head victory.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sadler’s Joy, a well-beaten third in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, will still be pointed to the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, trainer Tom Albertrani said Friday.
Sadler’s Joy was beaten 10 lengths by Channel Maker in the Hirsch, but Albertrani said Sadler’s Joy was hampered by the soft turf.
“I thought he ran well the other day, I thought he tried, the soft ground just seems to compromise him a little bit,” Albertrani said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – An anticipated matchup between sharp debut winners Covfefe and Graceful Princess in Sunday’s Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park was scuttled when trainer Ralph Nicks said Graceful Princess would be scratched from the $400,000 race for juvenile fillies due to a temperature.
Nicks said Sunday morning that Graceful Princess had a 104-degree temperature around feed time Saturday afternoon. She was treated with antibiotics, and the temperature was back to normal on Sunday morning, but a horse can’t run 24 hours after it’s been treated.
