Canterbury Park concluded its 67-day 2017 race meet Saturday with modest handle gains by several statistical measures despite threats of a boycott from a segment of the horseplaying population.
Canterbury experimented during its 2016 meet with lowering takeout well below industry standards, but while Canterbury did experience handle increases last year, they were insufficient to offset the takeout decrease and resulted in reduced revenue at the Twin Cities-area track.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Bolt d’Oro, the undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 4, had his first workout of September at Santa Anita on Sunday, going five furlongs in 1:00.40.
Bolt d’Oro is training toward the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 30, owner and trainer Mick Ruis said.
“I wanted to make sure that he’s tuned up,” Ruis said of the workout. “We wanted to get some air. He galloped out seven-eighths.”
Bolt d’Oro beat maidens in his debut at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A seven-furlong work by Paradise Woods on Sunday morning at Santa Anita puts the 3-year-old filly on target for a fall campaign. The question is, will she run in a sprint, or a route?
Paradise Woods, the Santa Anita Oaks winner, was “body sore” following her sixth-place comeback last month at Del Mar. Trainer Richard Mandella said she recovered, and will make her next start in a graded stakes race at Santa Anita on Sept. 30 or Oct. 8.
Fifty years after sending out his first starter as a trainer in 1967, Louie Roussel III won his 1,000th race Friday at Arlington when 2-year-old filly Heavens Whisper, a horse he bred and owns, won her career debut in the fourth race.
Roussel had been stuck on 999 wins for more than a week despite running a couple heavily favored horses. Ironically, Roussel hadn’t won with a first-time starter at Arlington since 1993.
The name of the milestone winner was fitting, too, since Roussel is a devoted religious man.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Newport Breeze, who had an awkward trip when second in the Seeking the Ante Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25, heads a field of eight entered in Wednesday’s $150,000 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies at Belmont Park.
In the Seeking the Ante, Newport Breeze was stalking the pace from second. Entering the far turn, she began to drop back steadily, presumably due to dirt being kicked back in her face. Next to last at the five-sixteenths pole, Newport Breeze re-rallied in the stretch to fall three-quarters of a length short to Cause We Are Loyal.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mind Your Biscuits, the Grade 1-winning New York-bred sprinter, will train up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, according to trainer Chad Summers.
Mind Your Biscuits finished sixth in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga on Aug. 26. Summers said he could not find anything physically wrong with Mind Your Biscuits and was debating whether to run in the Grade 1 Vosburgh on Sept. 30 or the Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7. In the end, he decided to skip them both.
Sunday is the second day of the inaugural HBPA Claiming Championship Series at Hastings. Not all of the eight races carded are part of the series, however, and Sunday’s feature is a $25,000 open claiming race for 3-year-olds and up. To be eligible for the Championship Series, horses must have started twice for the price of the race they enter, and at least one of the qualifying races had to be at Hastings.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Robertino Diodoro reported that Chief Know It All came out of his thrilling win in the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby in excellent shape and would be pointed to the $200,000 Zia Park Derby on Nov. 22.
The Sept. 9 B.C. Derby lived up to its billing as a great race. A photo was needed to separate the first three finishers, with Chief Know It All winning the 1 1/8-mile race by a nose over Trooper John. Riser was game in defeat, finishing a neck behind Trooper John after setting quick fractions over the sloppy surface.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Jockey Martin Pedroza was walking toward the jockeys’ room after his 100th career win at Los Alamitos on Thursday when he spotted a trainer friend along the paddock rail.
“I think I’m more tired than the horse,” Pedroza said.
The 52-year-old rider had a good excuse for being tired. Pedroza said he has been battling bronchitis while continuing to ride.
“I feel good even though I’m sick,” he said.
His sense of humor was intact, too.
“I had to ask the outrider to pull me up,” Pedroza said.
