SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The disappointment of her unlucky beginning in the Victory Ride in her comeback race four weeks ago was quickly forgotten after Separationofpowers bounced back with a hard-fought neck decision over a game Mia Mischief in Saturday’s $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga.
The victory was the second in a Grade 1 race for Separationofpowers and earned her an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
Sometimes persistence is the better part of valor, and in his 16th try, the 7-year-old Lightning Spear finally won a Group 1 race.
Bursting between horses under Oisin Murphy on Wednesday at Goodwood, Lightning Spear rattled home a 1 1/2-length winner of the Sussex Stakes after finishing sixth in the 2016 Sussex and third last year. Lightning Spear, who began racing in 2013, has outlasted most of his contemporaries and on Wednesday outlasted seven rivals with a belated breakthrough at the top level.
They settled this year’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in house.
Crystal Ocean, trained by Michael Stoute, stalked a strong pace, easily made the lead with a little more than two of the race’s 12 furlongs remaining, and opened up under William Buick on the way, it appeared, to victory. But several paths closer to stands filled with a crescendoing crowd, there came Poet’s Word, trained by Stoute, cutting away at Crystal Ocean’s lead.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Good Magic inherited the top spot among active 3-year-olds this week following the retirement of undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify. On Sunday, he will return from a 10-week layoff as a solid favorite in the $1 million Haskell Invitational, the premier race of the Monmouth Park season.
Standing in his way are Preakness runner-up Bravazo, the improving West Coast-based Core Beliefs, and Lone Sailor, who in his last four starts has missed a pair of graded wins by a neck and a nose.
This year’s post-position draw for the two-day Breeders’ Cup event in November at Churchill Downs in Louisville will be held at Equestricon, the fan convention that is scheduled to run the week prior to the Breeders’ Cup in Louisville, the organizers announced on Monday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – X Y Jet bounced back from his frustrating setback in the Dubai Golden Shaheen and reaffirmed his status as one of the nation’s elite sprinters with a 2 1/4-length victory over Reason to Soar in Saturday’s $250,000 Smile Sprint at Gulfstream Park.
The Grade 3 Smile Sprint shared top billing on the rich Summit of Speed program with the $250,000 Princess Rooney, won in shockingly easy fashion by Stormy Embrace, earning her an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.
Breeders’ Cup has designated three turf races for 2-year-olds scheduled for October as qualifying races for its newest race, the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which will be run for the first time this year on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
The winner of each of the three races will receive a guaranteed berth in the 5 1/2-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint without having to pay any entry fees.
ELMONT, N.Y. – As Justify has established himself as the clear leader of the 3-year-old male division, Monomoy Girl has done the same in the 3-year-old female division. Unlike Justify, who has wrapped up a championship with his Triple Crown sweep, Monomoy Girl still has more work to do.
On Sunday, one day after winning the Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park for her third consecutive Grade 1 victory, Monomoy Girl returned to Churchill Downs to prepare for a summer and fall campaign that is designed to end in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill in November.
The Kentucky-bred colt Mozu Ascot scored an upset win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen for turf milers at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan, beating a field that included seven Grade 1 winners.
With the win, Mozu Ascot earned a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
A 14-1 chance, Mozu Ascot overcame a touch of trouble in the first half-mile to race in midpack entering the stretch. In the final furlong, Mozu Ascot rallied between horses to win by a neck over 9-1 Aerolithe.
