By the time Labor Day has come and gone, there is usually some semblance of order amongst the nation’s sprint division. Summer staples like the Forego, Vanderbilt, and King’s Bishop, all Grade 1’s at Saratoga, and Del Mar’s Bing Crosby and Pat O’Brien, usually begin to sort things out as summer turns to fall and everyone’s attention starts focusing on the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
But such is not the case this year.
Three decades have passed since Eddie Donnally last rode a flesh-and-blood racehorse, and still he conjures them up in the shadowland of sleep. But for more than 50 of his now 70 years, Donnally’s real life was anything but a pleasant dream. Nightmares haunted him day and night, plagued him, fed on him − and conversely, he fed on them − often serving up his own generous helpings of personal despair before returning for seconds, even thirds.
On Oct. 16, 1974, at Suffolk Downs, jockey Eddie Donnally made the worst decision of his life, one that put him on the outs with both sides of the law. Below is an excerpt about the incident from Donnally’s book “Ride the White Horse: A Checkered Jockey’s Story of Racing, Rage, and Redemption.”
The lineup for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita figures to be shaped by a couple of major questions:
1. Is Groupie Doll really as good as she was last year when she dominated the seven-furlong race as an odds-on favorite?
2. Are the connections of some of the more versatile filly-mare routers so respectful (fearful?) of two-time champion Royal Delta in the BC Distaff that perhaps they’ll opt instead for the Filly-Mare Sprint?
Little has gone right for Fort Larned since he won the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic, but Fort Larned still has time to get right and properly defend his Classic crown Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
Fort Larned on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs trained for the first time since a pulled hind-end muscle forced his withdrawal Aug. 29 from the Aug. 31 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga. Trainer Ian Wilkes plans to send Fort Larned to the Sept. 28 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park -- but little Wilkes has planned this season has unfolded as envisioned.
As the racing calendar inches closer to the Breeders’ Cup, the biggest topic surrounding the Grade 2, $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon is not who’s emerging in the division, but who isn’t running.
The Marathon division lost its only bona-fide star in August when last year’s winner, Calidoscopio, was retired to begin his stallion career in his native Argentina. Prior to the announcement, the 10-year-old son of Luhuk stood a good chance of becoming the Marathon’s first repeat winner, following an electrifying last-to-first win in the Brooklyn Handicap in June.
Regardless of whether The Fugue, winner of this past Saturday’s Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes competes in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf Nov. 2, or is instead raced against males in the $3 million Turf that same day, a European seems likely to be the Filly and Mare Turf favorite.
In addition to The Fugue, Great Britain-based Dank is under consideration for the race, and she already humbled many of North America’s best turf mares with a 4 1/4-length romp in the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Aug. 17, a race that earned her a 108 Beyer Speed Figure.
For the first time since its inaugural running at Monmouth Park in 2007, the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will be run on the Friday program.
At a mile and 70 yards, Corinthian splashed through the Monmouth slop to earn a 119 Beyer, which remains the race’s top figure. After subsequent wins by Albertus Maximus (102), Furthest Land (105), Dakota Phone (104), Caleb’s Posse (111) and Tapizar (104), the average figure through six Dirt Miles is 107.5. Albertus Maximus and Furthest Land ran on a synthetic surface.
Sweet Reason and She’s a Tiger are the most prominent names on the list of early probables for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, while Untapable joined the club last Saturday with her win in the Grade 2 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs.
The Pocahontas was the first "Win and You’re In" race for the BC Juvenile Fillies, a 1 1/16-mile race that will be held at Santa Anita on Saturday, Nov. 2. The remaining challenge races are the Chandelier at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, and the Frizette at Belmont on Oct. 5.
