OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Senior Investment will return to dirt in what is expected to be a short field for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Discovery Stakes, the last graded route race restricted to 3-year-olds on this circuit.
LOUSVILLE, Ky. – While Corey Lanerie appears well on his way to his 15th riding title from the last 17 Churchill meets, the race for top trainer is much closer as the meet enters its final five-day stretch Wednesday.
Brad Cox, who earned his first Churchill title at the September meet, held a 9-8 lead over Steve Asmussen through the first 16 cards. Both are expecting to be very active in the final days.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rick Violette is hoping the wait was worth it.
Violette thought carefully before deciding not to run his stable star Diversify in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, waiting instead for the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs nearly three weeks later.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The 2-year-old filly Dixie Moon finished sixth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 3, and has resumed light training at her Woodbine base.
“The way she’s come back from the race is a testament to what a nice filly she is,” Trainer Catherine Day Phillips said. “We’ve gone easy and jogged for a week. Now we’re galloping a bit. She’s delighted to be back galloping, I have to say.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Making her first start on dirt, Wonder Gadot finished sixth the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 4, and will run back in the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct on Dec. 2, trainer Mark Casse said.
The Demoiselle is at 1 1/8 miles on dirt.
Casse said Wonder Gadot shipped to his training center in Ocala, Fla., following the Breeders’ Cup, and breezed five furlongs in 1:01.00 on dirt there Saturday. Casse added that he was pleased with Wonder Gadot’s effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, won by Caledonia Road.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Caren, the 2016 Canadian Horse of the Year, has been retired from racing and will be bred to Curlin next spring, trainer Michael De Paulo said.
Caren made just two starts as a 4-year-old this spring before suffering a soft-tissue injury in June while preparing for the Grade 2 Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine. De Paulo had said earlier this summer that it was possible Caren would return for a 2018 campaign, but he and owner Robert Marzilli opted for retirement following this fall’s yearling sales circuit.
Tom Queally has ridden a Breeders’ Cup winner as well as perhaps the 21st century’s best horse in the European star Frankel. But he’s still looking for his first victory at Golden Gate Fields.
Queally, a 33-year-old Irishman, has moved his tack across the Atlantic Ocean and the United States to the Bay Area, and is riding the fall meet at Golden Gate Fields. He intends to stay at Golden Gate at least through the winter.
“This wasn’t an overnight thought,” he said. “I’ve been working and thinking about it for some time.”
Trainers Bill Spawr and Bob Hess Jr. were fined by Del Mar’s stewards last weekend for violations.
Spawr’s penalty was the most severe, a $2,000 fine as a result of his horse Frac Candy testing for an excessive amount of the legal medication Methocarbamol – also known as Robaxin – following a victory during the summer meet here.
Hess was fined $500 after working Imperative a day sooner than allowed last month following that horse’s treatment with shock-wave therapy. Hess immediately admitted he had erred by misinterpreting the rule.
There are several well-regarded 2-year-old maidens who will go a mile in Race 5 at Del Mar on Thursday, and judging by what some of the runners have done to date, and what their connections think of them, this could prove to be a key race.
He’s Stylish, a colt by Into Mischief, is the likely favorite after finishing second to the highly regarded McKinzie in a fast maiden race at Santa Anita going seven furlongs Oct. 28. He got a Beyer Speed Figure of 88, which usually is more than sufficient to win at that level.
Jockey Flavien Prat was suspended for racing this Saturday and Sunday, but is allowed to ride in designated stakes races owing to an agreement reached years ago between the California Horse Racing Board and the Jockeys’ Guild.
As a result, Prat will be aboard Big Score in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby on Saturday and Lull in the Matriarch.
Prat originally had been suspended for four days from an incident at Santa Anita earlier this year, but he appealed and the CHRB, in executive session, recently halved the suspension.
