The field for the Grade 1, $3 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs has been set after two days of time trials for the Quarter Horse classic Friday and Saturday. The finale is Sept. 4.
Ruidoso put on 28 trials. The horses with the five fastest times from each 14-race card earned a spot in the gate for the finale. Shakem Bye Perry was the fastest qualifier Friday with a 440-yard time of 21.66 seconds. Bigg Daddy set the standard for Saturday with a time of 21.61.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gun Runner, the dominant winner of the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on Aug. 6, drilled a sharp five furlongs in 1:00.31 on Monday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes here Sept. 2.
The undefeated 2-year-old Thermistor could see stakes action at Kentucky Downs or Remington Park next, according to trainer J.R. Caldwell.
Thermistor won Colorado’s richest race, the $100,000 Gold Rush Futurity, on Aug. 13 at Arapahoe Park, improving his career record to 2 for 2. Caldwell said the horse will be considered for the $350,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile, a seven-furlong turf race Sept. 2, or the $75,000 Kip Deville over six furlongs Sept. 24 at Remington Park.
American Dubai was to be shipped to Ruidoso Downs on Monday to train at a high elevation in advance of a possible start in the Keeneland Korea Cup at Seoul Racecourse in South Korea, said his trainer, Rodney Richards.
American Dubai, the winner of the $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap and the $150,000 Sunland Park Handicap, has been stabled at owner Richard Keith’s farm in Hobbs, N.M., with plans to eventually be based at nearby Zia Park.
Richards has been working on the logistics of sending American Dubai to South Korea. The race is Sept. 10.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Corey Nakatani was the parade marshal Sunday in Los Angeles for the 2017 Nisei Week Japanese Festival, a prestigious honor made all the more poignant by the fact that Nakatani’s late father, Roy, was housed at Santa Anita as a youth during World War II when the track was temporarily used as a relocation facility for Japanese Americans.
Nakatani did not ride Sunday because of the commitment.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Albertrani doesn’t typically use a jockey to work his horses, but on Monday, Julien Leparoux put Sadler’s Joy through a five-furlong work in 1:01.88 over the Saratoga main track. Sadler’s Joy is pointing to Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Sword Dancer.
Albertrani said he has been shorthanded with help and that since Leparoux will ride the horse Saturday, he had him work the colt Monday. Leparoux won the Grade 2 Pan American on Sadler’s Joy in April at Gulfstream.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though By the Moon is already a Grade 1 winner, her connections would like nothing more than to get a Grade 1 victory at Saratoga. Considering how well the mare has run in Grade 1 stakes here, it would seem like she is due one.
At age 2, By the Moon was second in the Spinaway, albeit beaten 13 1/4 lengths by the slop monster Condo Commando. At 3, By the Moon finished third in the Test, and last year she was second in the Ballerina.
Golden Gate Fields hopes to continue the positive trend from its long winter-spring meeting when racing resumes Thursday for a 16-day summer meeting.
The meet runs Thursdays through Sundays and ends Sept. 17. First post is 1:45 p.m. Pacific. General admission is free Sundays.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird on Tuesday was scheduled to arrive at Saratoga, where on Saturday she is expected to face four rivals in the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign Stakes on the Travers card.
On Sunday at Del Mar, Songbird completed her preparations for the Personal Ensign by working four furlongs in 47.20 seconds.
“She just does everything nice and easy,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said. “She galloped out well, looked real good.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Classy Tune, the 5 1/2-length winner of an allowance race for 3-year-old fillies Sunday, likely will be pointed to the Grade 2, $250,000 Raven Run Stakes on Oct. 21 at Keeneland for her stakes debut, trainer Simon Callaghan said Monday.
Classy Tune, by Maclean’s Music, has won her last two starts, both at Del Mar.
“She deserves a shot at a stakes after that performance,” Callaghan said. “We’ll probably go to the Raven Run.”
Callaghan’s best 3-year-old filly, Test winner American Gal, worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds Monday at Del Mar.
