Fri, 11/08/2019 - 15:06

BC Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run being considered for Cigar Mile

Justin N. Lane
Spun to Run, winner of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, is under consideration for the Cigar Mile.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Spun to Run, the upset winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, will be considered for the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, but owner Robert Donaldson said it would be a least another week to 10 days before any decisions are made on where the 3-year-old will run next.

“There are so many options we’re looking at,” Donaldson said Friday. “People are calling us about the Saudi Cup. I got to let the horse tell us where we’re going. We’ll see what he’s telling us in seven to 10 days. The Cigar Mile’s definitely in play.”

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 15:00

Network Effect, Aurelius Maximus return from long layoffs in Sunday allowance

Barbara D. Livingston
Aurelius Maximus may be slightly better prepared to run a mile off a long layoff than Network Effect, according to trainer Chad Brown.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – If there was one area where trainer Chad Brown’s year was disappointing it was in the 3-year-old dirt division. Complexity won the 2018 Champagne, but could not repeat that effort in just two starts at age 3.

Network Effect and Aurelius Maximus, two horses who showed promise at 2, were hindered by injuries that prevented them from trying to get on the Triple Crown trail.

In fact, both Network Effect and Aurelius Maximus will be coming off year layoffs in a first-level allowance race going one mile Sunday at Aqueduct.

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 14:50

Voters clear way for betting on horses in Jefferson County, Texas

A referendum that would allow parimutuel wagering on horse races passed Tuesday in Jefferson County, Texas, according to officials. The unofficial margin was 54 percent for the proposition and 45 percent against. A second proposition providing for simulcast wagering in the same county also passed, with both election results expected to become official Nov. 12.

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 14:46

Bokeelia Island, Pendleton target Land of Enchantment stakes

Coady Photography
Bokeelia Island, ridden by Miguel Perez, wins the J.R. Malouff Handicap by three-quarters of a length.

Bokeelia Island and Pendleton, a pair of multiple stakes winners trained by Justin Evans, are targeting stakes on the Land of Enchantment card Nov. 27 at Zia Park.

Evans said Bokeelia Island is being pointed for the $150,000 Zia Park Championship for 3-year-olds and up over a mile and an eighth, while Pendleton is a candidate for the $100,000 Zia Park Sprint at six furlongs.

Bokeelia Island is coming off a 1 3/4-length win in the $50,000 Veterans at a mile and a sixteenth Oct. 28 at Zia. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 90.

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 14:46

Mr Money Bags settled in for Zia Park Derby

Coady Photography
Mr Money Bags (right) got his nose down first in Monday's Roadrunner Stakes at Zia Park.

Mr Money Bags is scheduled to work Sunday for an intended start in the $250,000 Zia Park Derby, according to his trainer, Mike Neatherlin.

Based in Texas, Mr Money Bags has remained at Zia since winning the track’s $50,000 Roadrunner Stakes on Oct. 28.

“He came out of the race really well,” Neatherlin said. “We’ll work him light, just enough to stretch his legs a little bit.”

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 13:06

Spiced Perfection doesn't meet sales reserve, could race in Go for Wand at Aqueduct

Coady Photography
Spiced Perfection wins the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland in October.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Spiced Perfection, who was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last Saturday, is now at Churchill Downs after not bringing her reserve at Keeneland this past week, so she will remain in training in 2020 but could race again as soon as next month, trainer Peter Miller said Friday morning at Del Mar.

“Maybe the Go for Wand,” Miller said, referring to a Grade 3, $250,000 race at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, part of a card that includes the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, and Grade 2 Remsen and Demoiselle.

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 12:56

Acclimate likely for Hollywood Turf Cup

Emily Shields
Acclimate, who finished ninth in the Breeders' Cup Turf, is being pointed to the Nov. 29 Hollywood Turf Cup.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato said that Acclimate, who was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last Saturday, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup going 1 1/2 miles here on Nov. 29. He won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap going 1 3/8 miles on turf this past summer.

Acclimate was one of three horses D’Amato ran in the Breeders’ Cup. He said that Bowies Hero, who was fifth in the Mile after capturing the Grade 1 Shadwell Mile, “will get 45 days of paddock rest, and then we’ll look to campaign him next year.”

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 12:50

Sunday maiden race could produce stakes runners

DEL MAR, Calif. – A maiden race for 2-year-olds going long on the turf on Sunday at Del Mar might produce horses who could come back by closing day Dec. 1 in the Grade 3, $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes.

Both the maiden race and the DeMille are at a mile. Four of the 11 horses in the maiden race, the last of nine races on the card, are making their debuts, and several who have run have shown promise, but the one who is likely to attract the most attention is newcomer Royal Act, an American Pharoah colt who has been held in high regard for months.

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 09:50

Pirate's Punch sharp for allowance

Coady Photography
Pirate's Punch won back-to-back starts earlier this year before finishing third in the Super Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Pirate’s Punch took the highly regarded Gray Magician to the limit in his last race, furthering his sharp recent form over dirt.

Off his neck loss behind Gray Magician on Oct. 11 at Keeneland, Pirate’s Punch looks as good as any of the nine entered in the ninth race here on Sunday, a $99,000 second-level allowance that anchors a 10-race card to close out another five-day race week here.

Fri, 11/08/2019 - 09:50

Renay Borel has first winner as trainer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Renay Borel notched the first win of her training career when Flatoutandfoxy rallied to win the fifth race Wednesday at Churchill. Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, the trainer’s husband, was aboard the 3-year-old filly for owner Carson McCord.

Renay Borel, 32, is a native of Bradenton, Fla. She had worked for years as an exercise rider prior to bearing the couple’s son, Chase, in September 2017.