ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Following Dragon Bay’s upset victory over two-time Canadian champion Are You Kidding Me in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes on May 20, trainer Stu Simon thought his horse could make a run at the Grade 1, $800,000 Woodbine Mile in September.
The Eclipse Stakes covered 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta. Dragon Bay followed that win with a victory in the Grade 2 Nijinsky Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on the Woodbine turf on July 29, and now plans have changed.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Seeking Albert will be pointed to the third and final jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on turf at Woodbine on Aug. 20.
Seeking Albert, making just his second start for trainer Mike De Paulo, recorded his second career win in an allowance over 1 1/2 miles on turf here July 14.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pink Lloyd is undefeated in four starts this year, including the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes over seven furlongs on Tapeta here July 16. Trainer Bob Tiller said the 5-year-old son of Old Forester will remain at Woodbine for his next start against restricted company in the $125,000 Shepperton Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and up Aug. 12.
DEL MAR, Calif. – California-based stakes winners Cupid and It Tiz Well are now bound for Saratoga stakes next month after recording quick workouts at Del Mar on Thursday.
Cupid, the winner of the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27 in his lone start this year, worked six furlongs in 1:12.40. A 4-year-old, Cupid is a candidate for the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Sept. 2.
“He worked really well,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “It looks like he’s ready.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Maiden 2-year-old colts have been running to expectations at Del Mar this summer, and on Saturday, the highly regarded Bolt d’Oro will try to continue that theme.
Bolt d’Oro, a $630,000 Medaglia d’Oro colt owned and trained by Mick Ruis, makes his career debut as the race 7 favorite at 6 1/2 furlongs. If he runs like he works, Bolt d’Oro could make it 3 for 3 for favorites in juvenile maiden special weights.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As well as she’s run in a pair Grade 1 races, it’s hard to believe that Sassy Little Lila is still in search of her first stakes victory. She could be well spotted to get that stakes win Saturday in a field of 12 for the $100,000 De La Rose at a mile on turf at Saratoga.
Illinois racetracks on Monday submitted applications to the Illinois Racing Board for 2018 race dates, and the requested schedule looks similar to the 2017 racing calendar.
Hawthorne, which applied for 55 Thoroughbred days, did request to start its 2018 spring meet on March 23, about three weeks later than this year. Since Hawthorne raced only two-day weeks in March, that is a loss of only six race days, and the break gives the track more time to convert its surface after a winter Standardbred meet ends March 2.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown has won 20 stakes on turf in the U.S. this year, and that’s without contributions from Camelot Kitten, Projected, and Takeover Target. That trio was part of an 11-horse field entered for turf in Saturday’s $100,000 Lure Stakes at a mile at Saratoga.
For Camelot Kitten and Takeover Target, the Lure represents their first start of the year. For Projected, the Lure is his first start since the Grade 3 Poker in June, a race he lost by a neck after being impeded late.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion sends out the improving pair of Guilty Twelve and Lottie in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Waya, one of three turf stakes on the Whitney undercard.
Guilty Twelve, a 5-year-old daughter of Giant’s Causeway, is 2 for 2 this year, with narrow victories in a Belmont allowance and the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park. This will be her first start at 1 1/2 miles.
“I don’t think it’s going to hurt,” Motion said of the distance, adding that jockey Chris DeCarlo told Motion after the last race that, “She’ll go all day.”
The Tabulator won his career debut over Arlington’s Polytrack by more than nine lengths before capturing the $85,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile by 2 1/4 lengths over dirt on July 28, but rather than point to the Arlington-Washington Futurity, trainer Larry Rivelli said he will aim The Tabulator at the $150,000 Iroquois on Sept. 16 at Churchill Downs.
“I think he likes dirt better,” said Rivelli. “He really didn’t beat much first time out. If he wins the Iroquois, I can take him either to the Breeders’ Cup [Juvenile] or the Delta Jackpot.”
