ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Two locally based 2-year-old fillies are heading off to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup following stakes wins here two weekends ago.
Wonder Gadot, who was a six-length winner of the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes on Tapeta on Oct. 7, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on dirt, while Dixie Moon, who beat males in the Cup and Saucer Stakes on turf on Oct. 8, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 1 Canadian International Stakes winner Bullards Alley was on his way back Monday morning to trainer Tim Glyshaw’s base at Churchill Downs following his 10 3/4-length victory over Oscar Nominated on Sunday evening.
Bullards Alley got a 114 Beyer for the International, the highest Beyer on turf this year and the highest turf figure since 2008.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A couple of young jockeys posted notable firsts Sunday at Keeneland.
Alex Canchari, a perennial top jockey at Canterbury Park, registered his first victory in Kentucky by winning the Sunday opener aboard Boxer Boy ($29.20) for trainer Doug Anderson. Canchari, 23, had gone 0 for 56 on this circuit since moving here in late August, although he does have three wins at Indiana Grand during that span.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s not often that you see a horse run back in five days, or make his fifth start in barely more than six weeks. But that will be the case Thursday when Tobias runs as a longshot in the Grade 3 Sycamore at 1 1/2 miles on the Keeneland turf.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ricardo Santana Jr. continues to ride in sensational form, but it all nearly came to a halt in a frightening moment Sunday at Keeneland.
Santana had just crossed under the wire an eight-length winner aboard Galilianco in the seventh race, a maiden race run at the Beard Course distance of seven furlongs and 184 feet. Without notice, Galilianco broke down, throwing Santana to the ground and briefly rolling over him. A trailing horse, Dulce Ride, was unable to avoid the spill, and she crashed into Galilianco, throwing jockey Channing Hill.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Casse experienced a few moments of sheer terror Saturday when watching La Coronel run in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland via satellite dish at his Ocala, Fla., home.
“They were coming down the stretch and the screen suddenly went blank,” said Casse. “I didn’t know whether she’d won or lost. There were a few very tense moments there.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Corey Nakatani has been suspended three days for failing to ride his mount to the finish in Saturday’s fifth race, according to a ruling issued Sunday by Santa Anita stewards.
Matt Nakatani, the jockey’s son and agent, said Sunday that Corey Nakatani was considering an appeal. Nakatani was cited for his ride on Hard Arch, who finished fifth in a $20,000 claiming race for maidens. Hard Arch was third with a furlong remaining and was beaten a half-length for fourth place.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The unbeaten 2-year-old Beautiful Shot will be on a gradual career path this fall.
After Beautiful Shot won his stakes debut in Sunday’s $73,405 Speakeasy Stakes at six furlongs at Santa Anita, trainer Keith Desormeaux said the colt is a candidate for the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes, a $100,000 race at seven furlongs Nov. 11 at Del Mar.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 4 at Del Mar is not part of the discussion.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bal a Bali, unraced since a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 20, is likely to start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.
But trainer Richard Mandella said last weekend that Bal a Bali faces a tight schedule to be in peak form for the $2 million grass race. Gaining a spot in the field is not an issue. Bal a Bali earned a fees-paid berth with his win in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita in June.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Capla Temptress, the winner of the Grade 1 Natalma on Sept. 17, worked five furlongs in 1:01.82 over the Belmont turf course on Sunday in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Del Mar.
In her work, her second since being transferred to Bill Mott from Marco Botti, Capla Temptress started two lengths behind Lemoona, a maiden 2-year-old filly, and finished one length back at the wire.
