Remington Park will open one of its most significant meets ever on Friday night in Oklahoma City.
The track will be celebrating its 30th birthday throughout the season. Purses have increased over the corresponding meet in 2017. And, the stakes schedule, led by the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby, has a second graded race for the first time in track history in the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Two-time stakes winner Spiced Perfection finished a quiet fourth as the favorite in the Fleet Treat Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies on July 29. The loss was a surprise for owner Dare to Dream Stable and trainer Brian Koriner and has led to relaunch of Spiced Perfection’s campaign Friday.
Spiced Perfection runs in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at six furlongs against open company in Friday’s sixth race.
“There is nowhere else to go,” Koriner said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mario Gutierrez has been booked to ride Battle of Midway in Saturday’s Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar, the first start of 2018 for the 4-year-old colt who was a failure at stud earlier this year.
The $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes will be Battle of Midway’s first race since he won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile here last November. Battle of Midway was sent to stud in Kentucky last winter, but was put back in training in the spring when he was found to be subfertile.
Horse racing at state and county fairs used to be commonplace and remains part of the culture in certain regions of the country. But on the East Coast, Timonium is the last of the Mohicans.
The Maryland State Fair in Timonium, which begins a seven-day run Friday, will race three days this week and then Friday through the Labor Day holiday next week. In addition to its annual fair meet, Timonium is home to a year-round offtrack betting parlor and is the site of three Fasig-Tipton horse sales.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wonder Gadot has won five races from 13 starts. Six of her eight losses have come by less than a length. In her two most recent victories, both against Canadian-bred males, she has won by a combined 10 1/2 lengths.
So, what’s changed? Is it the blinkers that she has worn in each of her last two starts? Trainer Mark Casse doesn’t think so. Is it the restricted company she’s been beating in the first two legs of Canada’s Triple Crown? Perhaps.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The jockey and trainer races are heating up at the halfway point of the 133-day Woodbine meet.
Even though he missed the first few weeks of the meet due to a suspension, Eurico Da Silva recently blew by Rafael Hernandez to take the lead in the rider standings by a 107-100 margin through last Sunday. Patrick Husbands ranks third with 60 wins. Rounding out the top five are Gary Boulanger with 56 and Luis Contreras with 52.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Game Winner, a Candy Ride colt who won a six-furlong maiden race for 2-year-olds in his debut Saturday at Del Mar, will be aimed for races at longer distances and stakes, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert.
“He’s a nice horse,” Baffert said. “We knew he’d run well, but we didn’t think he’d show that much speed. He came out of it well. He wants to go further. We’ll find something for him. He’ll be nominated everywhere.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Splashy Kisses, who rolled to victory in her second start Saturday at Del Mar, could return in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante going seven furlongs Sept. 1 but is more likely to await the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on Sept. 29 at Santa Anita, trainer Doug O’Neill said.
Splashy Kisses drew the rail and was eighth in her debut going five furlongs when facing the highly regarded Brill on opening day, July 18. She won going six furlongs Saturday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Ask Alfredo Marquez how he’s doing and you’ll always get the same response from the sunny, upbeat trainer: “Super excellent. And getting better.”
That’s certainly true this summer at Del Mar. Marquez, 70, by choice limits his barn to just seven horses, but they have produced, with four wins from a mere eight starters.
“Dream of a lifetime,” he said of his Del Mar strike rate. “It’s unreal. Still can’t believe it.”
