INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The ex-claimer Quick Enough won his first stakes in Monday’s $100,000 Morvich Handicap at Hollywood Park at an ideal time.
The winner of the Grade 3 Morvich earned a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6 through the Breeders’ Cup’s Win and You’re In program, subject to the payment of entry fees.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Pleasant Prince earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for his win Sunday in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park and on Monday shipped back to the Keeneland base of his trainer, Wesley Ward.
Pleasant Prince’s next start is likely to come in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Blind Luck breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds on a foggy Monday morning at Hollywood Park, her first workout since a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing on Oct. 2.
The five-time stakes winner this year worked alone, an exercise that was her first work in the build-up to the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5. Over the next few weeks, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said he will not overly train Blind Luck before she races in Kentucky.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The local 2-year-olds got a chance to strut their stuff here in last weekend’s Mazarine and Grey stakes, a pair of Grade 3 races at 1 1/16 miles that are positioned as possible stepping-stones to the Breeders’ Cup.
And the best performance, from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint, went to the filly Wyomia, who earned a 91 for her front-running 2 3/4-length tour de force in Saturday’s $228,000 Mazarine.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Pleasant Prince might have punched his ticket to next month’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Sunday, when he swept to a four-length win in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby.
“That’s probably where we’re headed,” said Wesley Ward, who trains Pleasant Prince for Ken and Sarah Ramsey.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Acoma had done a lot of good things as a 3- and 4-year-old, but she had been found a bit lacking this year. Considering that Acoma was winless and largely disappointing in three starts in 2010, the vast majority of Keeneland fans found her worth dismissing – much to their chagrin, as the 5-year-old mare came bounding home a 23-1 winner Sunday under Alan Garcia in the 55th running of the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rogue Romance rallied from last to show a welcome new dimension and earn a trip to the Breeders’ Cup with a clear-cut victory Sunday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The task of preparing Quality Road to get the 1 1/4 miles of next month’s Breeders’ Cup Classic was picked up in earnest Sunday morning at Belmont Park as the multiple Grade 1-winning colt worked five furlongs in company and then proceeded to gallop out an additional three-eighths of a mile.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Smiling Tiger is bound for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6 after a hard-fought win in Saturday’s $250,000 Ancient Title Stakes at Hollywood Park.
Ridden by Russell Baze, Smiling Tiger ($9.20) won the Grade 1 Ancient Title by a half-length over a fast-closing Supreme Summit. E Z’s Gentlemen finished third. Dancing in Silks, the winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, could only finish sixth in the field of seven.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The opening half-mile of Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes went in 45.92 seconds and the heavy favorite, Uncle Mo, had 22-1 longshot I’m Steppin It Up lapped on him.
For an ordinary 2-year-old making just his second career start, this might have taken something out of him. In the next half-mile it became evidently clear that Uncle Mo is no ordinary 2-year-old.