DRF handicappers Dave Litfin and Steve Andersen hosted a live chat on Friday night to preview the slate of Grade 1 stakes races this weekend at Belmont Park and Santa Anita Park.
Question: Thoughts on uncle mo vs older? He could cruise to an easy lead, but two inside of him are pretty nice horses.
Dave Litfin: 'Mo's task easier with Sangaree out, but he's not a speed-burning type
ARCADIA, Calif. – After an odyssey that sent him to West Virginia and Texas, in addition to Hollywood Park and Del Mar, Game On Dude returns to the scene of the crime, er, his greatest win, when he heads the field Saturday in the Grade 1, $250,000 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita.
It was here on March 5 that Game On Dude survived a rough stretch run and lengthy stewards’ inquiry to win the Santa Anita Handicap. And though he has run well in four subsequent starts, Game On Dude has not won since the Big Cap, which marked his second straight victory at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first major transition of Drill’s career occurred in consecutive starts during the summer at Del Mar, when the highly-promising 2-year-old beat maidens in August and then won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7.
“There is a lot of raw talent there,” trainer Bob Baffert said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Kiaran McLaughlin was the only trainer present at Thursday’s traditional post position draw for Saturday’s 11-race program at Belmont Park. He let out an audible “yeah” when his 4-year-old colt Trappe Shot drew post 8 in the nine-horse field entered for the Grade 1, $350,000 Vosburgh Invitational.
In a six-furlong race loaded with speed, McLaughlin wanted Trappe Shot, who has a history of breaking slow and who runs from just off the pace, outside of the front-runners.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The last five months have built toward two Saturdays this fall for Dubawi Heights.
After the 4-year-old Dubawi Heights won her first stakes in the Grade 3 Wilshire Handicap at Hollywood Park in late April, trainer Simon Callaghan had Saturday’s $250,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita as a goal, followed, he hoped, by the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Welcome back, traveler.
Cape Blanco seeks a third straight Grade 1 victory Saturday in the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park.
While his dominant wins in the Man o’ War at Belmont and the Arlington Million are notable accomplishments, the fact that Cape Blanco shuttled back and forth from trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle training center in Ireland to the United States for each race makes the feat even more remarkable.
So much for jet lag.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Stacelita, a ground-saving winner of the Beverly D. in her second U.S. start, will be a clear favorite in the $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Saturday at Belmont Park despite drawing the outside in a field of eight.
The 34th running of Grade 1 Flower Bowl, scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf, is the first of six Grade 1 or Grade 2 stakes on “Super Saturday.” The winner earns an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4.
ANDERSON, Ind. – Shackleford has been in this situation before, and what followed was very good.
Shackleford was badly beaten in the Fountain of Youth in February before going on to prove himself as one of the best horses in the 3-year-old class. Although not all the circumstances are the same coming into the Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park on Saturday, Shackleford once again is entered off a puzzling drubbing, having finished eighth by 22 lengths in his last race, the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes.
The field for the Flower Bowl ballooned to eight horses but the one to beat remains Stacelita, the Beverly D. winner who drew the outside post for the 1 1/4-mile turf race on Saturday at Belmont Park.
BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE: Racing schedule, replays, and past winners >>
Cape Blanco arrived in New York early Wednesday morning and was expected to be in quarantine until Thursday morning at Aqueduct before shipping over to Belmont, where he will be heavily favored to win the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational on Saturday at Belmont Park.
BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE: Racing schedule, replays, and past winners >>
