ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Hammers Vision will go back to the grass off a solid showing in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special when he runs Saturday at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Summer, a one-mile stakes for 2-year-olds that is a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In qualifier for the Juvenile Turf.
Hammers Vision made quite a splash at first asking in a six-furlong maiden special weight race on the grass at Belmont, scoring from off the pace over Summer Stakes entrant Manhattan Dan.
Keeneland officials released more details and photos this week in updating the dramatic transformation of facilities at the Lexington, Ky., track in anticipation of the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup.
A track release said preparations are “in the home stretch,” with temporary structures expected to accommodate 10,000 more fans than normal.
“The energy around the grounds is palpable,” said Keeneland president Bill Thomason.
It’s nearly eight months away, but that won’t stop racing fans from thinking about the first weekend in May at Churchill Downs when back-to-back stakes for 2-year-olds are run Saturday as part of a four-stakes package.
The Grade 3, $150,000 Iroquois Stakes is the first of 35 points races toward the 2016 Kentucky Derby. Similarly, the Grade 2, $200,000 Pocahontas Stakes – the richest race of the September meet – is the first of 31 points races to the 2016 Kentucky Oaks. The winner of each 1 1/16-mile race will earn 10 eligibility points.
Got an e-mail last week with the subject line “American Phony.’’ I knew the Triple Crown winner had just lost in the Travers, but phony, I thought, might be a bit much.
The writer explained that he was talking about 2015 Beyer Speed Figures, not overall performance. So, it got me thinking: What is the American Pharoah reality as we near the end of the colt’s career?
ARCADIA, Calif. – Point Piper, the well-bred colt who sprang a $62 upset in the $86,000 Harry F. Brubaker at Del Mar on Aug. 28, will jump into a Grade 1 for his next start, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Wednesday.
The $300,000 Awesome Again, one of five Grade 1’s at Santa Anita on opening day, Sept. 26, is the target for Point Piper.
“I think he deserves a chance,” Hollendorfer said.
In fact, Point Piper could be one of the favorites.
Point Piper earned a career-best 95 Beyer when he won the Harry F. Brubaker by a half-length.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin ran Cavorting in Sunday’s Grade 2 Prioress four weeks after she won the Grade 1 Test, and it worked out perfectly as Cavorting won the $300,000 Prioress by two lengths.
That effort, for which she earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, will be Cavorting’s last race before the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
“It worked out great,” McLaughlin said Monday. “Now, we have time until the Breeders’ Cup. She does well with time. I just wish the Breeders’ Cup was at Saratoga.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It is not a certainty, but Frosted is being considered for the Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 19 at Parx Racing, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Monday.
“We’re not sure at all, but it’s on the radar,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin is trying to figure out the best way to get Frosted to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. One option is to train up to that race. A second option is to run in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 3 at Belmont Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Cavorting capped an excellent meet for herself and all of her connections by exploding early and late, and taking Sunday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Prioress Stakes by three lengths at Saratoga, setting her up for a run at the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in late October.
Prince Gibraltar, who struggled in Group 2 races in France and England in May and July, won Sunday’s $278,000 Grosser Preis Von Baden at Baden-Baden Racecourse in Germany.
The Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Baden was part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31, if the winner is eligible to the Breeders’ Cup program.
After Sunday’s race, Prince Gibraltar was considered more of a candidate to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Oct. 4 than the BC Turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Liam’s Map, dominant winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, will most likely make his next start in the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. What remains to be determined, however, is whether that start will be in the $1 million Dirt Mile on Oct. 30 or the $5 million Classic on Oct. 31.
