Wed, 10/03/2018 - 14:46

Breeders' Cup Classic: Mind Your Biscuits can do it all

Coady Photography
Tyler Gaffalione guided Mind Your Biscuits to a 4 3/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Lukas Classic.

Mind Your Biscuits is so versatile that he could be a major player in three Breeders’ Cup races, ranging from the 1 1/4-mile Classic to the Dirt Mile to the six-furlong Sprint.

After Mind Your Biscuits won the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic last Saturday at Churchill Downs, trainer and co-owner Chad Summers now must decide whether to stretch him out even farther in the $6 million Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs or to cut him back in distance.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 14:40

Kentucky purses on the upswing

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Purses are up at Keeneland (pictured) this meet and also will rise at Churchill.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not only have purses been fattened here at Keeneland, with the projected per-day average of $738,000 being a track record, but the money will be substantially bigger at the Churchill fall meet, which begins Oct. 28.

Maiden-special races at Churchill will be worth as much as $76,000, and allowances will range from $82,000 to $85,000.

Both tracks are reaping the benefits of the historical racing machines at facilities nearby – The Red Mile in Lexington and the brand-new Derby City Gaming in Louisville.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 14:40

Amoss, Asmussen bringing momentum

Shigeki Kikkawa
Tom Amoss topped the trainer standings at the 11-day Churchill Downs fall meet this year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainers Tom Amoss and Steve Asmussen, both longtime regulars on the Kentucky circuit, are riding some serious momentum into this fall Keeneland meet.

Amoss not only sent out Serengeti Empress to an eye-catching triumph in the Pocahontas Stakes while topping the trainer standings at the 11-day September meet at Churchill Downs, but he won the Oklahoma Derby on Sunday night at Remington Park when Lone Sailor eked out a victory in a three-way photo.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 14:36

Saturday stakes draw big fields

Barbara D. Livingston
Heart to Heart, trying for his second Grade 1 victory at Keeneland this year, tops a full field for the Shadwell Turf Mile, one of five stakes on the Saturday card.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Big fields are the rule – with no exceptions – for the five stakes Saturday at Keeneland, which will be witnessed by a huge crowd.

The $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile, the richest race of the 17-day fall meet, actually drew 18 entries, but two were excluded and only as many as 14 can start. The other four Saturday stakes didn’t get quite as many entries, but no fewer than 10 were entered in any of them.

First post for the 11-race Saturday card is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the last race going at 6:24. In reverse order, this is the stakes lineup:

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 14:26

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: Ward, as usual, holding pocket rockets

In its 126 prior runnings, the historic Futurity at Belmont Park has been won by racing greats such as Domino (1893), Colin (1907), Man o’ War (1919), Citation (1947), Tom Fool (1951), Native Dancer (1952), Nashua (1954), Bold Ruler (1956), Secretariat (1972), Affirmed (1977), and Holy Bull (1993).

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:56

Breeders' Cup Turf: Arc result will impact field

For owners and trainers of Europe’s leading older horses, the autumn schedule is fairly clear – first the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and then maybe the Breeders’ Cup in the United States.

Prize money and prestige play a major role in the decision of which race to run in, or whether to run in both.

Sunday’s Group 1 Arc de Triomphe will be worth approximately $5.76 million and is Europe’s richest race, compared to $4 million for the BC Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, the richest turf race in the United States.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:40

Quantity at higher level than quality at fall-winter meet

Four-Footed Fotos
Hawthorne Racecourse opens its 44-day fall-winter meet Friday.

STICKNEY, Ill. – The first race of the meet is a $6,250 maiden claimer with a $7,800 purse. The first horse in the first race is named The King’s Hero. He’s trained by Hugo Rodriguez, son of trainer Lalo Rodriguez, former longtime assistant to the late trainer Tom Tomillo, once a Chicago mainstay. The King’s Hero has raced twice. Both starts produced Beyer Speed Figures less than zero.

That’s a decent summation of the 44-day fall-winter race meet, which starts Friday at Hawthorne Racecourse.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:26

BC Juvenile Turf: Forty Under is here to play

Barbara D. Livingston
Forty Under punched his ticket to the BC Juvenile Turf with a win in the Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont last Saturday.

Forty Under trained like a good horse for his unveiling July 28 at Saratoga. His trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, was excited to see him run, and so must have been owner Bill Parcells, the former National Football League coach who campaigns Forty Under using the nom de course August Dawn Farm.

But Forty Under fumbled the snap on his first play under center. He showed a bit of early speed after breaking from post 1 but quickly threw in the towel, fading to ninth, beaten almost 18 lengths.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:20

Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Distance keeping Brown participation down

Coady Photography
Sistercharlie, who won the Beverly D. this summer, will miss Sunday's Flower Bowl.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A month away from the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs, trainer Chad Brown anticipates running only Sistercharlie and Fourstar Crook in the Nov. 3 Filly and Mare Turf, a decision influenced by the race being at 1 3/8 miles this year.

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:16

BC Juvenile Fillies Turf: The Mackem Bullet wants to stretch out

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Newspaperofrecord returned $4 in winning the Miss Grillo on Sunday.

The six-furlong distance of the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket last Saturday did not suit The Mackem Bullet. The promising filly wants a longer race, which is why trainer Brian Ellison has targeted the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2 for The Mackem Bullet’s first start at a mile.

“It’s a dream come true to have a filly that’s good enough to go out there,” Ellison said on Wednesday from a yearling sale in Ireland.

“She’s a very good filly. It should be spot-on.”