ARCADIA, Calif. – A late-season showdown between California’s top handicap horses of winter, spring, and summer is taking shape as one of the most appealing stakes of the Santa Anita fall meet that begins on Oct. 1.
Idol, Express Train, and Tripoli are all on target for the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Oct. 2. The $300,000 race is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race leading to the BC Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
Lieutenant Dan’s win in Sunday’s Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap for turf sprinters at Del Mar has left owner and breeder Nick Alexander considering a $100,000 gamble this fall.
Lieutenant Dan won the first graded stakes of his career in the $101,500 Green Flash Handicap, leaving Alexander and trainer Steve Miyadi to consider the 5-year-old gelding as a prospect for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. The Green Flash and BC Turf Sprint are run at five furlongs on turf.
Golden Pal, seventh as the favorite Aug. 20 in the Group 1 Nunthorpe at York, was set to return to the U.S. on Tuesday looking no worse for his defeat, trainer Wesley Ward said Monday.
Golden Pal set a strong pace in the five-furlong, straight-course Nunthorpe but had nothing for the final furlong, fading out of the frame.
Grand Glory posted a big upset Sunday at Deauville, nipping Audarya in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet and giving trainer Gianluca Bietolini the biggest win of his career.
Grand Glory came late and wide under Cristian Demuro and was just up in the 1 1/4-mile Romanet, run around a right-handed turn. Thundering Nights, who had an inside trip, finished third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by the top pair.
Knicks Go will make his next start in the $1 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 7 at Saratoga and may have the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a late-season goal in 2021.
Trainer Brad Cox said Thursday that Knicks Go had come out of his powerhouse win July 2 in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap in excellent condition, and now the horse’s connections are looking toward the second half of the season.
“He’s going to train at Ellis Park,” Cox said. “Looks very good out of the race. Went back to the track, galloping, seems fantastic.”
A pair of California invaders, Grade 1 winner Ce Ce and the versatile Laura’s Light top a field of eight older fillies and mares entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $350,000 Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 2 Princess Rooney, a Win and You're In for the Breeders' Cup Fillyand Mare Sprint, highlights the Summit of Speed program that also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Smile Sprint.
This year’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club north of San Diego on Nov. 5-6 will “utilize 100 percent of seated capacity,” Breeders’ Cup announced Wednesday, one day after the state of California announced the lifting of most coronavirus-related restrictions on outdoor gatherings.
The 4-year-old Chilean colt Succeso and 4-year-old Argentine filly Blue Stripe won Group 1 races in South America over the weekend to earn automatic berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar in November.
The owners and trainers of both winners indicated they plan to send the stakes winners to the Breeders’ Cup this fall, the Breeders’ Cup said in a statement.
Cafe Pharoah earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar with an attractive win in Sunday’s Group 1 February Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.
The $1.84 million February Stakes, run at a mile on dirt, was Cafe Pharoah’s fourth stakes win and his first since the Grade 3 Sirius Stakes in October. Cafe Pharoah is a Kentucky-bred by American Pharoah, the prominent stallion’s first Grade 1 winner in Japan.
