DEL MAR, Calif. – It’s a good thing Wild Dude has earned $404,667 this year. He is paying his way into the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland this fall.
Wild Dude won the richest race of his career in the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 26 and goes for another lucrative stakes win in Saturday’s $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Owner Michael House had a perfect first week at Del Mar this summer. Gabriel Charles won the $400,000 Eddie Read Stakes on July 18, and Big John B won the $100,000 Cougar II Handicap on July 24.
The start of August was not as kind.
On Aug. 8, Gabriel Charles was rushed to a local vet clinic due to a bout of colic that required surgery. The operation occurred a week before a scheduled trip to the Arlington Million in Chicago.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Simon Callaghan was delighted that Taris returned from a lengthy layoff to win the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Sunday, and now he will focus on the main year-end goal, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland, where Taris scored the most impressive victory of her career last year in the Grade 2 Raven Run.
Taris was injured in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, required surgery, and had a mere six workouts coming into the Rancho Bernardo.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There are several indications that Beholder will be difficult to beat in Saturday’s $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar. About the only thing missing is pre-race bravado from trainer Richard Mandella.
“I’m not bragging too much until it’s over,” Mandella said. “I think she’ll do pretty good. I’d just like her to win.”
Solow won his eighth consecutive race and earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 31 with a half-length win in Wednesday’s $1.56 million Sussex Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse in England.
Solow (2-5) raced as a stalker in the field of eight before taking the lead with a furlong to go. Ridden by Maxime Guyon, Solow was tested to the finish by Arod, a 6-1 shot who set the pace. Gabrial, a 50-1 outsider, finished third.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Breeders’ Cup and Maker’s Mark will team up to sell a limited-edition run of the bourbon maker’s bottles to raise $1 million for charity, the two companies announced Wednesday at Keeneland, the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup event.
With the Haskell Invitational two weeks away, Mike Dempsey, Monmouth Park’s director of racing, and stakes coordinator Dan Dufford are beating the bushes to round up rivals to take on Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
It’s not an easy assignment.
Not only is American Pharoah the No. 1 ranked horse in the country, horsemen have other options that weekend besides the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell, which is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla . - Merry Meadow made a triumphant return to south Florida while earning an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in the process with a 1 3/4-length victory over Flutterby in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney on Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The question now, for trainer Mark Hennig and his owners, William Parsons Jr. and David Howe, is whether they will accept the bid.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Lady Eli’s dominant victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks Invitational not only kept her unbeaten but continued to validate the belief of her trainer, Chad Brown, that she is the “best filly of her age group” regardless of surface.
It may not rival lining up American Pharoah for the Haskell Invitational, but getting North America’s leading turf horse, Main Sequence, to return to Monmouth Park for Sunday’s Grade 1 United Nations is a coup in itself.
The $500,000 United Nations is where it all began for Main Sequence. He won his U.S. debut in the race a year ago and never looked back, completing an undefeated season with Grade 1 victories in the Sword Dancer, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, and Breeders’ Cup Turf.
