ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Christophe Clement won his second stakes photo on the Super Saturday card at Belmont Park when Pure Sensation got up in deep stretch to win the $150,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational by a head over front-running Power Alert.
Three races earlier, Clement had won the Grade 1 Frizette with Yellow Agate, who ran down pacesetting Libby's Tail in the shadow of the wire to also win by a head.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Yellow Agate claimed the fifth and final Win and You're In berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Saturday, but she needed the entire length of the Belmont Park stretch to wrench it away from Libby's Tail, who led for all but the final jump or two of the one-mile Frizette Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Made You Look, the winner of the Grade 2 With Anticipation at Saratoga, worked a half-mile in 48.96 seconds over the Belmont turf course Saturday in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
Made You Look was on the inside of stablemate Rock Me Again, a 4-year-old filly. The pair shaded 23 seconds for the final quarter-mile, though Made You Look bobbled a time or two in the stretch.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Union Strike, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Saturday in preparation for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.
Union Strike was held out of the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1 because of sore shins, but trainer Shelbe Ruis said on Saturday that the filly has recovered.
“There was nothing that major going on,” Ruis said. “It was the right thing to do. I think she’ll be ready.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Firing Line, second in the 2015 Kentucky Derby, will miss the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 4 after falling behind in recent training.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said on Saturday that he is planning a late-autumn and winter campaign for Firing Line, who missed a scheduled start in the Harry Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 24 because of a strained muscle.
There was a chance that Firing Line could have run in the BC Dirt Mile after a series of workouts, but Callaghan said that is no longer a possibility.
LEXINGTON, KY – Friday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Alcibiades at Keeneland on opening day went to an inexperienced filly when maiden winner Dancing Rags pulled off a 12-1 upset under Maryland-based jockey Angel Cruz, who won his first graded stakes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It took every ounce of effort and a track record, but A. P. Indian stayed unbeaten in 2016 when edging Limousine Liberal in a thrilling 164th running of the Grade 2, $250,000 Phoenix Stakes on Friday, opening day of the Keeneland fall meet.
Curalina, the three-time Grade 1-winning stakes filly, will be pre-entered in both the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, said Aron Wellman, president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which owns the filly.
Curalina won her maiden at the Filly and Mare Sprint distance of seven furlongs and won the Grade 1 Acorn, a one-turn mile, as a 3-year-old.
Curalina is also a multiple graded stakes winner at the Distaff distance of 1 1/8 miles.
The stakes winner Bowies Hero will be favored to win his second consecutive stakes in Monday’s $100,000 Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf at Santa Anita. On the same program, the stakes winners Con Te Partiro and Happy Mesa are expected to run in the $100,000 Surfer Girl Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on turf.
The races could produce runners for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and Juvenile Fillies Turf here on Nov. 4.
Win the Space, third behind California Chrome and Dortmund in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes last Saturday, remains a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, trainer George Papaprodromou said.
Papaprodromou said a decision will be made after discussions in the coming weeks with owner Rustin Kretz. He said the Classic is more likely than the $1 million BC Dirt Mile on Nov. 4.
“We’re leaning toward the Classic,” Papaprodromou said. “It will be a smaller field, and I prefer that.”
