LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not to date the man, but it was in 2007 that Todd Pletcher trained his first winner of the Spinster Stakes, Panty Raid. Sixteen years, that’s a pretty long time, and you can measure it through generations of racehorses
Panty Raid now is the dam of Proxy, a hopeful for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Proxy is the sixth named foal from Panty Raid, and on Sunday, Pletcher seeks his sixth Spinster with Nest.
From his vantage point on a yacht off the coast of the small Caribbean country of Turks and Caicos, everything looked good for American horse owner Dean Reeves last Saturday, particularly the races on a computer screen.
From Newmarket Racecourse in Britain to Santa Anita in Southern California, horses Reeves co-owns won important stakes in prep races for the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita on Nov. 3 and 4.
“We started the morning with a Group 1 and finished the day with a Grade 2 for the doctor,” Reeves said earlier this week.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, emphatic winner of the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes last weekend at Santa Anita, will have to wait until next year for another shot at the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Doug O’Neill said Thursday.
The good news is owners Paul and Zilla Reddam plan to race the son of Nyquist next season at age 5. O’Neill said the colt’s setback is minor, though untimely.
A little more than a week after his arrival from New York, the star 3-year-old Arcangelo worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 at Santa Anita on Thursday, the start of his local preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4.
“It was a nice first work over the surface,” trainer Jena Antonucci said. “I’m boring. I have no complaint.”
Arcangelo, unraced since a one-length win on a muddy track in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 26, was ridden by his regular exercise rider Robert Mallari in the workout.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Life Talk brings experience, a win at the distance, and the backing of solid connections into Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct.
A daughter of Gun Runner, Life Talk has displayed signs of greenness in her first two starts, both at Saratoga. In her 6 1/2-furlong debut on July 30, she was beaten a head by Alys Beach in a race where she lost position at the start and had to rally wide yet still looked like a winner in deep stretch only to get denied on the wire.
Master of The Seas is nowhere near the best miler in Europe but may be favored to beat the best male turf horse in America, Up to the Mark, on Saturday.
Those two and seven others, among them 2022 race winner Annapolis, square off in the featured Grade 1, $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland.
This has been a perfect year so far for the 3-year-old filly Anisette, who is unbeaten in three starts in the United States, including two graded stakes at the Del Mar summer meeting.
It has not been a perfect year for the outstanding older mare Didia, who was withdrawn from a key start in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes at Colonial Downs on Aug. 12 after sustaining a cut on her head in the weeks before the race that needed a few stitches.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The seven-time stakes-winning millionaire Wicked Halo has been incredibly consistent throughout her career, and her accomplishments loom large as she comes to the Grade 2, $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. However, she was the beaten favorite last time out and will have to rebound against some of the same foes, including the upwardly mobile Yuugiri.
The Thoroughbred Club of America, which has a field of seven, is a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although Joe Catanese was the trainer of record for her first seven starts, Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey had her this summer, and she now resides in the barn of David Fawkes, nobody knows Maryquitecontrary better than exercise rider Lisa Bartkowski, who believes the Grade 2 winner is ready to get back to her winning ways in Saturday’s $200,000 Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream Park.
A rare Wednesday graded stakes race in New York added at least a hint of clarity to the North American murk that is the 2-year-old male turf division. As of early Wednesday afternoon, a grand total of one male 2-year-old on the continent had so much as cracked 80 on the Beyer Speed Figure scale in a turf race at six furlongs or longer.
