OKLAHOMA CITY – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said before the Oklahoma Derby that a good race from Battle of Midway would put the multiple stakes winner on a path to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 at Del Mar. Battle of Midway ran his race Sunday when second to Untrapped, and Hollendorfer said Monday that the horse looked good following the start and the plan is to proceed to the Dirt Mile.
“I thought he ran a real good race,” Hollendorfer said.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday that immediate plans for Oklahoma Derby winner Untrapped are to be determined, but that the Oaklawn meet is a long-range goal for the horse, owned by Arkansas resident Mike Langford. Ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., Untrapped was a 1 3/4-length winner of the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday at Remington, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 94.
OKLAHOMA CITY – The champion Champagne Room was bright and alert Monday, the morning after her win in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, and she could be headed next to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Trainer Peter Eurton said Monday the Nov. 3 race at Del Mar is strong possibility for Champagne Room, who won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She also had been under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gun Runner sure seems to have had a few good weeks at Churchill between his big summer at Saratoga and his impending rematch with Arrogate in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. The star colt completed his local training early Sunday by working five furlongs in company, with his connections expressing satisfaction afterward that he is headed to California in the way they had hoped.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Catholic Boy, winner of the Grade 2 With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga, will skip Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Pilgrim at Belmont Park and could train up to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
John Panagot, racing manager for Robert LaPenta, owner of Catholic Boy, said the horse vanned from South Florida to Saratoga and back and that another trip in four weeks “is probably not best for the horse.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If Honorable Duty isn’t careful, he might wind up in world-class events such as the Pegasus Cup and Dubai World Cup.
Brendan Walsh has mapped out a three-race schedule for Honorable Duty to conclude 2017, and although reluctant to get too far ahead of himself, the Irish-born trainer is hoping what happens in the next few months will result in new horizons for his stable star.
“He’s been a great horse for us,” said Walsh, who trains Honorable Duty, a 5-year-old gelding, for the DARRS Inc. of David Ross.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Phil Serpe is considering running his 7-year-old New York-bred millionaire Weekend Hideaway in Saturday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park.
One factor Serpe is weighing in his decision is whether he wants to run in a race that includes El Deal, a horse trained by Jorge Navarro.
Navarro has become the subject of much scrutiny since a video appeared of him and one of his owners bragging about potential impropriety and screaming obscenities while at Monmouth Park and watching a horse win a race trained by Navarro’s brother Marcial at Gulfstream Park.
Trainer Armando De la cerda suddenly and somewhat unexpectly had some doors open for Kroy after the red-hot 3-year-old made a dazzling main-track debut at Gulfstream in Sunday’s Bear’s Den Stakes, a race originally carded at 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf but moved to the dirt due to rain.
Kroy led throughout under jockey Emisael Jaramillo to register a 1 1/2-length victory over Zipping, completing seven panels over a track upgraded from sloppy to good in an eye-catching 1:21.69, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has started his annual pilgrimage to South Florida, having recently shipped approximately 30 horses to his winter base at Palm Beach Downs.
Among those now in Florida is Channel Cat, who at Gulfstream Park won Saturday’s 11th race, a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds on the turf, following the disqualification of Speed Franco.
