It seems there were two jockeys of the week during the Breeders’ Cup – and they both ride in New York.
John Velazquez was voted top jock for his Breeders’ Cup exploits by the Jockey’s Guild, while Javier Castellano won the Shoemaker Award, which recognizes the top rider at the Breeders’ Cup and is determined by a point system.
The thing is, Velazquez was the only jockey to win more than one Breeders’ Cup race last weekend. Confusing? You bet.
Mind Your Biscuits has earned more than $2.3 million with only one of his 18 starts coming at a distance longer than seven furlongs. We'll find out if he can go farther in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 2 at Aqueduct.
Last Saturday at Del Mar, Mind Your Biscuits closed strongly but ran out of real estate to finish third, beaten three lengths, in the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He flew home from California on Tuesday to rejoin trainer Chad Summers at Belmont Park.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Eastern-based trainers Brian Lynch and George Weaver each has brought a small stable of horses to Del Mar.
Weaver had eight horses at Del Mar as of last weekend and said more would be coming. Owners Jim and Susan Hill asked Weaver to have a presence at the meeting, which continues through Nov. 26.
“Hopefully, we can get lucky and win some races,” Weaver said.
Weaver had four runners in the first week of the meeting. His best result was a second by Thundering Sky in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes last Saturday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The 2-year-old stakes winner Beautiful Shot is probably destined for a career as a late-running sprinter. He will be given a chance to prove otherwise one of these days, but not this Saturday.
In his stakes debut, Beautiful Shot closed from fourth to win the six-furlong Speakeasy Stakes on Oct. 15 at Santa Anita. On Saturday, Beautiful Shot returns in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar.
The distance of the $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes is an ideal fit for Beautiful Shot from trainer Keith Desormeaux’s perspective.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The victory by Gun Runner in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday left no doubt as to the Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male for 2017, and while several other Eclipse Award divisions were decided over the 13 Breeders’ Cup races Friday and Saturday at Del Mar, a good number are still as murky as the fog that can roll in off the Pacific Ocean here, leaving voters with some potentially difficult choices.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three interesting allowances highlight Thursday’s 10-race card at Churchill Downs.
The first is the sixth race, a third-level allowance going six furlongs, in which Put Da Blame On Me, the beaten favorite when sixth in the Grade 3 Groupie Doll, is cutting back from a mile to six furlongs and takes on a field in which four of her five foes have either won or placed in stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although most of the Kentucky-based horses who competed in Breeders’ Cup races and undercard stakes at Del Mar are getting time off, a couple of Mike Maker-trained runners from Breeders’ Cup Saturday could reappear later this month.
Hogy, 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, is being aimed at the $125,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship on Nov. 25, while Kitten’s Roar, winner of the Grade 2 Goldikova on Saturday’s card, is targeting the Grade 1 Matriarch Nov. 26 at Del Mar.
Though Malcolm Pierce has sent out only six 2-year-olds this year at Woodbine, the trainer has enjoyed success with those runners, including recent wins from Verboten and It’s Fate, along with a third-place finish from Kitten’s Boy in Sunday’s Coronation Futurity Stakes.
Four of Pierce’s juvenile starters have won a maiden race. In all, Pierce’s 2-year-olds have recorded five wins from 14 starts, and eight in-the-money finishes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Clickity Clack, who recorded her first stakes score in the $225,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes on Oct. 29, could run back in the $125,000 South Ocean Stakes on Nov. 15 or the $125,000 Ontario Lassie Stakes on Dec. 3, trainer Tony Gattellaro said.
The South Ocean is for Ontario-sired 2-year-old fillies, and the Ontario Lassie is for Ontario-bred 2-year-old fillies.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bookies Luck will be pointed to a third consecutive stakes win against California-breds in the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes on Dec. 16 at Los Alamitos, trainer Jeff Bonde said Sunday.
Bookies Luck is in the midst of an excellent year, having won the I’m Smokin Stakes on Sept. 1 at Del Mar and the Golden State Juvenile at Del Mar last Saturday. In the seven-furlong Golden State Juvenile, Bookies Luck led throughout and held off a late run from an unlucky Smokem to win by a nose as the 8-5 favorite.
