Little Mike has one more chance this weekend to earn a trip to California to defend his title in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
After losing all four of his starts in 2013, Little Mike starts in Saturday’s $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park in need of a strong performance.
“If he wins or is competitive in the Joe Hirsch, we’ll take him back to California,” said Carlo Vaccarezza, who bred Little Mike.
When a horse sets a track record it normally implies radical exertion. A couple minutes of extreme speed should, in the typical course of events, lead to a couple extra weeks’ rest.
But “normal” and “typical” aren’t adjectives that stick to Wise Dan – there is nothing normal about the heights to which he has ascended the last two seasons, and a typical Wise Dan performance has become breathtaking spectacle. Wise Dan set a course record of 1:31.71 in the Sept. 15 Woodbine Mile, but all it took to see how easily he had won was a nominally functional set of eyes.
The 2-year-old fillies pecking order on the West Coast should come into sharp focus Saturday, when She’s a Tiger and a promising trio from trainer Bob Baffert all make their two-turn debuts in the Grade 1, $250,000 Chandelier at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calf. – There are certain times of the racing calendar that are perennial. Every spring, there is wonder over which 2-year-olds have progressed into Kentucky Derby contenders, and which have already peaked. And every fall, after the merits of the current 3-year-old class have been debated and dissected, the answers are revealed as to whether the best of that crop can successfully compete against their elders.
Todd Pletcher could potentially stage a three-ply assault on the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with Graydar, Shanghai Bobby, and Verrazano.
Graydar rose meteorically to prominence last winter when he wired the Grade 1 Donn Handicap in his stakes debut and fourth start overall, and followed with a pace-pressing score in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It would have come as no surprise had the connections of Flat Out announced his retirement at the end of last year.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Two-year-olds will be showcased in the Grade 1 Champagne on Oct. 5, and on Monday, two of the top contenders for that race put in workouts.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It seems like a race did The Lumber Guy a world of good.
Last year’s Vosburgh winner worked a very fast half-mile in 46.14 seconds Monday in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Vosburgh Invitational. Mike Luzzi was aboard for the move and will be aboard Saturday, replacing John Velazquez, who is committed to ride Justin Phillip. Luzzi rode The Lumber Guy to victory in last year’s Grade 2 Jerome.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Orb will try to become the first Kentucky Derby winner to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup in the same year since Ponder did it in 1949 when he runs in Saturday’s 95th renewal of the $1 million race. Funny Cide and Affirmed are both Derby winners who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup as 4-year-olds.
