ARCADIA, Calif. – Unique Bella tagged along with trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s stable through the spring and summer, a bench player with a stellar portfolio.
From Santa Anita to Del Mar and back to Santa Anita, Unique Bella did not race while recovering from sore shins that forced her out of training in March, weeks after her third consecutive stakes win. Instead, Unique Bella was rested and slowly brought back to training for a fall campaign.
Frank and Patricia Generazio were longtime supporters of the late Mid-Atlantic stallion Disco Rico, and have a chance to enjoy the dividends of that commitment with a pair of high-profile runners in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Disco Partner, who won the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational Stakes on Saturday and holds the world-record time for six furlongs over the turf, is a homebred son of Disco Rico.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Another FallStars Weekend is in the record books – but not quite all the Win and You’re In races.
As an encore to the opening three-day weekend, which produced a slew of contenders for the Nov. 3-4 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, the Grade 3 Jessamine for 2-year-old fillies will anchor an eight-race Wednesday card as the ninth and final Win and You’re In of the Keeneland fall meet.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Separationofpowers bounced back from her third-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinaway by rallying from a stalking position to win Sunday’s Grade 1 Frizette, thus earning her spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Separationofpowers was a little reluctant at first to go by the two horses in front of her in upper stretch, but once Jose Ortiz motivated her she did kick in and won by a comfortable 3 1/2 lengths over Caledonia Road.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has run three horses at Del Mar but has never himself been to the Southern California track.
That will change next month when he brings War Flag to Del Mar for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. War Flag punched her ticket to that race with a head victory over Dacita in Sunday’s Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Though he’s won races all over the country in a Hall of Fame career that has spanned 40 years and has even run three horses at Del Mar, trainer Shug McGaughey himself has never been to the Southern California track.
That will change next month when he will accompany War Flag to Del Mar for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Although she emerged as one of the country’s leading older females this season, the 2017 Breeders’ Cup is off the table for Vale Dori.
Trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Sunday that Vale Dori will be freshened for the winter meet at Santa Anita. She will not run this year in the BC Distaff or Filly and Mare Sprint.
“She needs a break. She’s not showing any energy,” Baffert said. “She ran hard all year, and I think she’s sort of tailing on me.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Finley’sluckycharm was fifth down the backstretch, which might have rattled a lesser horse. Normally a front-runner, the filly nonetheless adapted on the fly – literally – when charging home a popular winner Saturday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland.
Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Finley’sluckycharm earned an expenses-paid berth in the Nov. 4 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar, a race for which she figures as one of the favorites.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Practical Joke, a three-time Grade 1 winner, worked four furlongs in 48.45 seconds Saturday morning over the Belmont Park main track as he continues preparations for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 at Del Mar.
Practical Joke worked in company with the 2-year-old maiden winner Engage, and the pair got their last three furlongs in 35.55 seconds and galloped out an additional eighth of a mile in 12.65. Engage is scheduled to run in the Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity here next Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mind Your Biscuits picked up the pace in his preparations for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint by working a sharp half-mile in 46.72 seconds Saturday morning over the Belmont Park main track.
The move, timed in splits of 23.12 and 23.60, was done immediately after the track reopened following the 8:30 a.m. renovation break. Joel Rosario, the colt’s regular rider, was aboard for the breeze. Mind Your Biscuits galloped out five furlongs in 59.65.
