At least 10 horses are expected for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park.
The latest to join the fray is Kowboy Karma, runner-up in the Sapling Stakes, who worked five furlongs in 59 seconds Monday morning at Delaware Park. Trainer Larry Jones said he put a filly a few lengths in front of Kowboy Karma and the colt finished a little bit in front at the wire.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Good Samaritan will be equipped with blinkers for the first time when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, trainer Bill Mott said.
Good Samaritan has worked a few times in blinkers, and Mott likes the impact they’ve had on the 3-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday. Good Samaritan had his final work for the Gold Cup on Monday, going five furlongs in 1:03.59 over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga, with a final quarter in 24.60 seconds, according to Saratoga clocker Dave Norton.
Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., will open a 46-date meet for Quarter Horses on Wednesday night. The season runs through Dec. 19.
Evangeline will put on its richest card of the meet Dec. 16, when it runs four stakes on a card worth $1.5 million. The $1 million Louisiana Million, which is a restricted Grade 1, will be supported by the $300,000 Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Breeders’ Derby, the $100,000 Evangeline Downs Futurity, and the $50,000 Evangeline Downs Derby. Trials for the Louisiana Million will be Nov. 17.
Girvin, who earned a berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic with his win in the Haskell Invitational in July, has wrapped up his season, trainer Joe Sharp said Monday. Girvin last raced on Sept. 24, finishing fifth in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.
MIAMI – The annual eight-mile trek across town during the fall begins for a fourth time on Wednesday when racing on the south Florida circuit shifts from Gulfstream Park to Gulfstream Park West for an eight-week meeting that runs through Nov. 26. Post time daily is 1:15 p.m. Eastern.
Bird Song, a two-time graded winner of $512,707, has been retired after exiting his last race, the Sept. 23 Kelso at Belmont Park, with what trainer Ian Wilkes described as a minor injury.
Bred and owned by the Marylou Whitney Stables, Bird Song, a 4-year-old colt by Unbridled’s Song, won the Grade 3 Fred Hooper and Grade 2 Alysheba earlier this year.
Hall of Fame and three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel is a father for the first time after his fiancée, Renay Falkner, gave birth in Louisville on Sept. 27 to a son, Chase Clovis Borel.
Borel, 50, said the boy’s middle name was his late father’s first name. As for the name Chase, “we just liked it.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Big World will not run at Keeneland in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 8, a race for which the Louisiana-bred filly figured as a top contender.
“I just couldn’t get her as fit as I wanted,” said trainer Tom Amoss, adding that Big World will be pointed instead to the Grade 2 Chilukki at Churchill Downs in early November.
The $500,000 Spinster, a Win and You’re In to the BC Distaff at Del Mar, now has Romantic Vision, Blue Prize, and Tiger Moth as prospective favorites. The Spinster and Grade 3 Bourbon conclude the FallStars schedule Sunday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The racing office and barn area were centers of heightened activity Monday at Keeneland, where excitement continues to build for a 17-day fall meet that begins Friday.
Per-day purses are expected to average $722,000, the highest in track history, at a meet that runs through Oct. 28.
“Everyone around here is looking forward to a fabulous meet,” said Ben Huffman, racing secretary at Keeneland since 2002.
ARCADIA, Calif. – With his victory Saturday in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita, Mubtaahij won a free roll to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Del Mar, adding to the power-packed lineup trainer Bob Baffert has pointed to the race.
