LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Casse was up before 5 a.m. Friday so as to make his commercial flight out of Gainesville, Fla., in time for the 1:05 opener of the Keeneland fall meet. His flight was canceled, but that didn’t keep the Casse-trained Gio Game from dominating her six opponents in the $65,000 maiden special weight route.
“She looked pretty good running off by herself on the screen,” Casse said by phone, adding he hoped to be on hand later in the day by way of a private jet out of Ocala.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – With its oversubscribed field, options for the Grade 3 Bourbon on Sunday are almost limitless – but trainer Vickie Foley is hoping handicappers don’t have to look any further than the No. 1 horse, Tigers Rule.
A sharp two-length winner of a maiden race last month at Kentucky Downs, Tigers Rule has Foley and her numerous partners in the Kitten’s Joy colt excited about his future prospects.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The turf-course maximum was exceeded when entries were drawn here Friday for theGrade 3, $150,000 Jessamine Stakes, the ninth and final Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In event of the meet.
Sixteen 2-year-old fillies will be on the program for the Jessamine, which anchors an eight-race Wednesday card, although only as many as 14 can start. The 1 1/16-mile race is a prep for the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – New Money Honey is among the Chad Brown contingent that has settled in at Keeneland, as the star turf filly looms the biggest name for the final Grade 1 race of the fall meet, the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.
New Money Honey, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall and the Belmont Oaks in July, is one of 11 3-year-old fillies whose connections have accepted invitations to the 34th QE II, to be run next Saturday, Oct. 14.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shippers from Canada, Europe, and the East Coast are among the probable starters for the two $100,000 one-mile turf stakes here on Monday.
They are joined by a solid group of locally based runners in the Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds and the Surfer Girl Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. The stakes could produce starters for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and the Juvenile Fillies Turf, both at a mile, at Del Mar on Nov. 3.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After a quiet opening week of the Santa Anita autumn meeting, apprentice jockey Evin Roman had a breakthrough day Thursday, recording four wins on a single program for the third time this year.
Roman won Thursday’s first race with South Americain ($44), the fourth with Getoffmyback ($65.80), the fifth with Wonderful Lie ($7.80), and the eighth with Reverend Al ($8.40).
Del Mar will offer a jackpot pick six for most of its autumn meeting, but will offer a standard pick six during Breeders’ Cup weekend.
The meeting opens with a five-day racing week on Wednesday, Nov. 1. On Wednesday and Thursday, the pick six will pay out 15 percent of the net pool in the event of a single winning ticket. If no one hits the pick six or there is more than one winning ticket, that 15 percent will carry over to Thursday. If the jackpot is not paid out that Thursday, it will carry over to Friday, Nov. 10 – the first day of racing after Breeders’ Cup weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Terra’s Angel, who won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 4, has been sent to Texas for the remainder of the fall, trainer Dallas Keen said.
Terra’s Angel will be based at Retama Park with co-owner Terry Eoff, who trained Terra’s Angel for a maiden win in her debut at Lone Star Park in May.
Jockey Ramon Vazquez won five races at Remington Park on Thursday night, including his 1,000th win in the United States.
He entered the card with 998 wins and hit 1,000 in the fourth race with Eurobond, the first of two winners he had on the card for longtime patrons Danny Caldwell and trainer Federico Villafranco.
Vazquez, 32, has won an additional 1,567 races in his native Puerto Rico, according to Equibase. He is a four-time title winner at Remington. Vazquez is tied for second in the current standings at Remington.
Separationofpowers, the beaten 3-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Spinaway, will look to bounce back in Sunday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.
Separationofpowers was a sharp debut winner at Saratoga but then got hooked up in a vicious speed duel with Pure Silver in the Spinaway, costing both horses a chance at victory. The Spinaway was won by Lady Ivanka, who is training up to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
