Due to the rains that forced turf racing to be mostly curtailed at Aqueduct this weekend, Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes has been postponed and will now be run on Oct. 6, the New York Racing Association announced Sunday.
The Miss Grillo, a “Win and You’re In" race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, will be open to all original nominees and potential supplementals and will be re-drawn on Wednesday.
It was bingo for Bango on a wet Friday at Churchill Downs, as he took sole possession of the record as the winningest horse at the Louisville, Ky., track with a 2 1/4-length win in an allowance/optional-claiming race.
The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit has lifted a provisional suspension of trainer Jorge Duarte Jr. that was based on a positive for methamphetamine in a horse he trains for Richard Santulli’s Colts Neck Stables, according to the trainer and public documents.
HIWU lifted the suspension after Duarte provided the agency with “relevant and meaningful information regarding the likely source of unintentional transfer or contamination,” according to a notice sent by HIWU to the trainer. Duarte provided the notice to Daily Racing Form.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- War Like Goddess will attempt to win a third consecutive Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Saturday at Aqueduct.
After initially planning to train the 7-year-old mare up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2, Mott said Sunday that he plans to run her in the 1 1/2-mile turf race against six males.
“They had six and quite a bit of speed in there,” Mott said. “I thought, since we enter so far out, let’s make sure she’s doing well and feeling good.”
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said he will evaluate the potential competition before deciding whether to run Pennsylvania Derby winner Seize the Grey in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic or the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Both races are scheduled for Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Lukas said Sunday he is not inclined to pre-enter Seize the Grey in both races. Pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup are due on Oct. 21 and will be announced two days later.
“I think I’ll make up my mind before then,” Lukas said Sunday as he drove back to Louisville, Ky., from Pennsylvania.
ARCADIA, Calif. – California-based Stronghold will shorten to a mile and face older in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar, trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday at Santa Anita, a day after Stronghold finished second in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing.
“If he comes out of it well, we’re going to run him in the Dirt Mile,” D’Amato said. “It’s a race where they’re not going to go (1:13.80) and I think a mile, at this point in time, will hit him right between the eyes.”
The way trainer Kenny McPeek sees it, Thorpedo Anna should be Horse of the Year if she wins the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
“I think if she wins the next one you got to make her Horse of the Year,” McPeek said Sunday morning. “I don’t know how anybody would have much argument with that. We’ll see.”
E J Won the Cup leads a handful of Southern California invaders for the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby that will be run Sunday, Sept. 29, at Remington Park.
The 1 1/8-mile race drew a field of eight, with Indispensable and Canada Gate also coming in from Santa Anita.
The Oklahoma Derby anchors a card of eight stakes worth a total of $1 million. There is a special first post of 3 p.m. Central. The forecast calls for a sunny afternoon in the high 80s and a low of 58 degrees.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Ten furlongs was too far for Dr. Venkman last out: he finished fourth as the even-money favorite in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. The question now is if six furlongs at Santa Anita is too short.
Dr. Venkman will shorten in distance and return to one turn for the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Sunday, Sept. 28, a six-furlong race trainer Mark Glatt hopes can move him toward the Breeders’ Cup.
