Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., will open its meet later than usual on Saturday and with a makeover of its Land of Enchantment program, which annually features its richest offerings for Thoroughbreds. The 53-date meet also includes Quarter Horse racing, and runs through Dec. 19.
Zia has opened the first week in September in the past, and is opening later this year to reduce a 12- to 13-day overlap with the Downs at Albuquerque, said Matt Crawford, manager of racing operations for Zia.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Good Bye Greg got a late start this year to his 7-year-old campaign, but he is getting in a plenty of late-summer racing and will be favored to win the featured third race Saturday as Arlington says good-bye to another season.
Good Bye Greg has found more Arlington success throughout his career than any horse stabled at the suburban Chicago venue, and starts for what have become the perennial leading connections at Arlington – owner Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC, trainer Larry Rivelli, and jockey Jose Valdivia Jr.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York-bred Highway Star won the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap last year to cap a series of good efforts in graded stakes and establish herself as a significant player for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
It’s been nothing but frustration ever since then for her connections.
On Sunday, Highway Star will look to end that frustration and earn a return trip to the Filly and Mare Sprint with a repeat victory in the Gallant Bloom, one of three stakes on the 10-race card.
ARCADIA, Calif. – West Coast, the champion 3-year-old colt of 2017, worked six furlongs from the gate in 1:12.60 at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Unraced since a second-place finish in the Dubai World Cup in March, West Coast has had five workouts since he returned to training in California during the summer. Thursday’s workout was his first at six furlongs since his return.
“I have no races in mind,” trainer Bob Baffert said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The fast filly Anonymity is Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella’s best chance for success at the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in early November.
Anonymity, second in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 12, is scheduled to start in the Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 7 in what could be a prep for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 3.
ARCADIA, Calif. – At 55, Gary Stevens has a list of 2-year-old mounts that could make for an interesting next few weeks at Santa Anita.
Stevens will ride Del Mar May for the first time in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Sept. 29. On Oct. 8, Stevens is booked to ride King of Speed in the $100,000 Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf.
Those races will determine if those 2-year-olds are sent to Churchill Downs for Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 2.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park will trot out the new look Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series as the marquee event on a track-record 105-race, $29 million stakes program during the 2018-19 Championship meet, which opens on Dec. 1 and continues through March 31, 2019.
The third edition of the Pegasus World Cup comprises two events for the first time, the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, and the $7 million Pegasus Turf Cup at 1 3/16 miles. The Pegasus Turf Cup replaces the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf on this year’s schedule.
ELMONT, N.Y. – There were 26 winning tickets, each worth $67,779, sold on Wednesday’s pick six at Belmont Park as bettors aggressively went after a three-day carryover.
Wednesday’s card began with a $326,010 carryover after the pick six was not hit for three consecutive cards. There was $2,519,765 wagered into the pool Wednesday, despite three of the six races in the sequence being moved from turf to dirt after rain hit the area Tuesday.
The 1 hole is not a neutral draw in six-furlong sprints. It hurt Switzerland in the Vanderbilt Stakes on July 28 at Saratoga, and Switzerland drew the fence again Wednesday when entries were taken for Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 De Francis Dash.
Nine were entered in the De Francis, the headliner at Laurel Park on a seven-stakes, 13-race card. The De Francis had been scheduled for Sept. 15 but was moved back a week because of the threat (which never materialized in Maryland) from Hurricane Florence.
Hotstepper is in the house for the Lone Star Park meet for Quarter Horses, which opens Friday night. The winner of the Grade 1, $1.2 million All American Derby, Hotstepper is one of the highest-profile runners on the grounds for the 16-date season, which runs through Nov. 10.
“He’s doing real good,” trainer Sleepy Gilbreath said Wednesday.
Gilbreath said Hotstepper is targeting the Oct. 19 trials for the Grade 1, $400,000 Texas Classic Derby. The finale is Nov. 10.
