Jessica Krupnick’s second-place finish in the Roamin Rachel Stakes at Parx Racing last weekend put her on the lead for the Mid-Atlantic Championships overall title, which will be decided Saturday on the De Francis Dash card at Laurel Park. The owner of the overall series champion will earn a $50,000 bonus, and the winning trainer will receive $25,000.
Parx has pulled out all the stops for its premier racing program of the year Saturday, which is topped by the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion, both $1 million Grade 1’s.
Also slotted are the Grade 3, $300,000 Gallant Bob, a competitive six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds; the $150,000 Pennsylvania Derby Championship, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up; and the Alphabet Soup, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for Pennsylvania-breds.
The card includes four first-level allowance races, a second-level optional claimer, and a 2-year-old maiden race.
Nobody has come closer to beating 3-year-old filly division leader Monomoy Girl this season than Wonder Gadot, who finished second to her by a half-length in the Kentucky Oaks. On Saturday, Wonder Gadot will try Monomoy Girl again in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing.
Monomoy Girl is 5 for 5 on the year, with four of her wins coming by two lengths or more. In the Kentucky Oaks, she came into the stretch on a clear lead before being taken on by Wonder Gadot from the outside. The pair brushed repeatedly through the final furlong, with Monomoy Girl edging away late.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Starship Jubilee regained her best form here in last Saturday’s Grade 2 Canadian, closing from off a lively pace in the about nine-furlong turf stakes and blowing the doors off the Chad Brown-trained duo of New Money Honey and Inflexibility.
Starship Jubilee was voted Canadian champion female grass runner in 2017, and she could win the award again this year. Trainer Kevin Attard, who owns her with Soli Mehta, said he’s on the fence regarding whether to run her back at 10 furlongs in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor here Oct. 13.
The Pegasus World Cup is being planned for Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park and will feature a $9 million purse and a companion grass race, the $7 million World Cup Turf Invitational, according to Gulfstream’s parent company, The Stronach Group.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Instagrand, the precocious California-based 2-year-old colt ranked among the early favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, will be turned out and aim for a 3-year-old campaign.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Tuesday that owner Larry Best decided to suspend the colt’s 2-year-old campaign following two runaway wins – a 10-length debut victory June 29 at Los Alamitos, and a 10 ¼-length romp in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 11 at Del Mar.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Miss Technicality, six-length winner of the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Turf, worked a half-mile Monday morning in 49.63 seconds over the inner turf course at Belmont Park.
Miss Technicality, trained by Christophe Clement, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 30.
ELMONT, N.Y. – A small portion of trainer Chad Brown’s turf arsenal got back on the grass for workouts Monday at Belmont Park, led by Robert Bruce, the Arlington Million winner who is preparing for a start in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic here on Sept. 29.
Robert Bruce beat stablemate Almanaar by a half-length in the Million, and he worked in company with that horse Monday. The pair went five furlongs in 1:02.56 over a course that could have been labeled anywhere from good to yielding. The pair came home in 24.05 seconds for their final quarter.
High North, a multiple stakes winner who ran third in the Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in his last start Sept. 2, is being freshened, trainer Brad Cox said Monday.
“He came out of his race in good order,” Cox said. “We’re giving him a break. He’s been in training for a while, performed well for us all year.”
The Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic will be run Jan. 27 at Sam Houston, according to a press release from the track. The race will again share a program with the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup.
The special Sunday program will have a first post of 1 p.m. Central.
The purse for the Houston Ladies Classic, which is for fillies and mares, will be announced when the stakes schedule is released, according to Frank Hopf, senior director of racing operations for Sam Houston. This year, the race was worth $400,000 and was run at 1 1/16 miles.
