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.
ELMONT, N. Y. - Trainers Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher split the two graded turf stakes run at Belmont over the weekend and both are likely to send their winners and losers to Del Mar for their respective Breeders’ Cup races.
Pletcher ran first and third in Saturday’s Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes with Seabhac and Maraud, and the Brown-trained Voting Control finished second. All three are likely to move onto the Juvenile Turf on Nov. 3.
ARCADIA, Calif. – With two Grade 1 victories, one around two turns and another at the track where the Breeders’ Cup will be held in 4 1/2 weeks, Bolt d’Oro has firmly established himself as the horse to beat in the Juvenile on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.
He put himself in this position with his powerful victory in the FrontRunner Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Nominations for the Grade 1, $800,000 Canadian International on Oct. 15 have been announced, and Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes winner Johnny Bear leads the list of locals.
Johnny Bear and Northern Dancer Turf Stakes fourth-place finisher Seeking Albert were the only Woodbine-based horses among the 34 nominees for the Canadian International. Trainer Ashlee Brnjas said she anticipated Johnny Bear would run in the Canadian International, despite having other options.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – At this time last year, Melmich was coming off a runner-up finish in the Temperence Hill Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park and had his sights set on November’s Grade 2 Marathon Stakes as part of the Breeders’ Cup Friday undercard at Santa Anita.
This year, trainer Kevin Attard is planning on keeping Melmich at home.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mr. Roary, who won his first graded stakes in the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita last Friday, is a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4, trainer George Papaprodromou said.
Owned by Rustin Kretz, Mr. Roary closed from well of the pace to win the $101,725 Eddie D Stakes. At the Del Mar summer meeting, Mr. Roary was third in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes in July and last of 13 in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap Aug. 19.
“I don’t know what happened the last time,” Papaprodromou said of the Del Mar Handicap.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The six-time stakes winner Ambitious Brew has been sidelined with a foot ailment, trainer Marty Jones said last weekend, and may not race again until 2018.
A 7-year-old gelding, Ambitious Brew won the Bertrando Stakes for California-bred milers in his last start, which came at Los Alamitos in July. He has not had a workout since mid-August and missed two potential races for him in September – the E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos and the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita.
