ARCADIA, Calif. – The role of Breeders’ Cup Distaff favorite will solidify after the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland, but in the meantime there is no doubt about the identity of the hometown favorite.
Adare Manor scored her sixth Santa Anita victory last Sunday, wiring the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes in a virtual public workout over three rivals. It gets tougher for Adare Manor on Nov. 4 in the BC Distaff at Santa Anita.
The only virtual certainty in trying to forecast the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint is that the race should have a full field – and that the picture for that starting gate should begin coming into focus following four stakes this coming weekend.
The New York State Gaming Commission on Tuesday approved a $100,000 fine for trainer Linda Rice in an amended penalty that was required after a state appellate court threw out an earlier three-year suspension the commission handed to Rice.
Mage, the Kentucky Derby winner, worked five furlongs in 1:03 on Sunday at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky., the first step toward what his connections hope is a start in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
The work was the first for Mage since his disappointing last-place finish in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 26 at Saratoga.
Trainer Linda Rice has received a stay of a 14-day suspension she received last week from the New York State Gaming Commission due to an overage of the regulated painkiller phenylbutazone in a horse that ran in January of this year.
According to a ruling from the commission, the Rice-trained Afleet Arlene tested positive for an excessive concentration of phenylbutazone after winning the fourth race on Jan. 21 at Aqueduct. Phenylbutazone, commonly known as Bute, is not permissible to administer within 48 hours of a race and is regulated by a threshold level.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Lane Way won his first major stakes in Saturday’s Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes in what may be an autumn of firsts in turf sprint stakes for the 6-year-old gelding at Santa Anita.
The $203,000 Eddie D Stakes was run at 6 1/2 furlongs on the oval turf course. Lane Way’s next objective is the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at five furlongs at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 4 is too expensive of a proposition for Hong Kong Harry, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita.
To be eligible for the nation’s richest turf mile, owners Scott Anastasi, Jimmy Ukegawa and Tony Valazza must pay a $200,000 supplemental nomination fee to make the 6-year-old Hong Kong Harry eligible to the Breeders’ Cup series for the remainder of his career as well as $60,000 in pre-entry and entry fees to start in the race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Forte, who has not had a workout since finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 26, has been battling a quarter crack, but his connections still believe there is ample time to prepare him for a start in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
Noted farrier Ian McKinlay patched the quarter crack on Forte’s left front foot and the horse has been training at Churchill Downs, where he galloped Sunday morning, according to trainer Todd Pletcher.
The Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Stakes, which had been pushed back from Saturday to Sunday, will now be run Oct. 7 at Aqueduct, the New York Racing Association announced Saturday afternoon.
The 1 1/2-mile turf race will be open to original nominees and will be re-drawn on Wednesday.
The Hirsch was part of an 11-race Saturday card that was postponed to Sunday due to heavy rains that created significant flooding and hazardous conditions in the New York City metropolitan area. The rain caused Friday’s Aqueduct card to be canceled.
The Parx stewards suspended jockey Paco Lopez 30 days for “failure to give his best effort and failure to use the proper diligence” while aboard Riden With Biden in the Grade 2, $200,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx on Sept. 23.
Lopez waived his right of appeal. The suspension began on Thursday and lasts through Oct. 27.
As Next, the 1-5 favorite, was drawing away to a 25-length victory in the Greenwood Cup, Lopez basically stopped riding Ridin With Biden, the 7-2 second choice, in the late stages of the race and his was caught for second by 84-1 shot My Imagination.
