ARCADIA, Calif. – Kitcat, a Group 1 winner in her native Chile, will have her American debut in Saturday’s $70,000 Swingtime Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.
Kitcat is using the race as a prep for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile here on Nov. 5. A 4-year-old, Kitcat has won her last four starts and earned a fees-paid berth in the BC Mile with her win in the Group 1 Club Hipico Falabella Stakes in Chile on May 22, her most recent start.
By Sunday, the Breeders’ Cup Mile picture should come into fairly clear focus, with five horses on Daily Racing Form’s weekly top-10 list racing at Keeneland and more action at Santa Anita, which hosts the Mile on its new turf course Nov. 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he rerouted Protonico to the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, trainer Todd Pletcher still has the talented duo of Tommy Macho and Anchor Down for Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park.
Tommy Macho is making his first start since winning the Fred Hooper at Gulfstream in February. He underwent surgery to remove a chip from a knee and has come back a bit sooner than Pletcher anticipated.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Rick Violette said the Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette is a race he’s always wanted to win, and he’ll take a swing at it on Saturday with Sky Gesture, a debut winner at Saratoga on Aug. 28.
Sky Gesture was one of six 2-year-old fillies entered in the Frizette, which will go as race 4 on Saturday’s 11-race program at Belmont Park.
Sky Gesture beat Cursor by 1 3/4 lengths on Aug. 28 at Saratoga, and Cursor came back to win her maiden Wednesday at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito may not be the presence in the big races that he once was, but he hopes to be a factor in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne with Lookin At Blessing.
Zito has won the Champagne five times, including in 2003 with Birdstone and in 2007 with War Pass.
Steve Hamilton won his first race in almost 10 years last Sunday when he guided Bo Vuk to victory in the third race at Laurel Park.
Hamilton, 42, retired from riding in January 2007. He began his comeback in late August at Timonium, and Bo Vuk was the 57th mount of his comeback.
“I’ve been waiting for that one,” Hamilton said. “It’s awesome. Words don’t describe being back on that end of it.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Hennig appears to have some nice young horses for Donald and Donna Adam’s Courtlandt Farm, but it is the 6-year-old mare Strike Charmer who might have given these connections their biggest thrill of the year when she won the Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga.
Despite being the final Win and You’re In test for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Saturday’s Santa Anita Sprint Championship has a surprisingly short field led by division leader Lord Nelson, with the speedy Grade 1 winner Masochistic among the most notable defections from the race.
Trainer Ron Ellis opted to bypass the Sprint Championship and train Masochistic up to the Breeders’ Cup, where he’ll make his first start in 11 weeks since cruising to victory in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien at Del Mar.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Remember when the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Distaff was shaping up as essentially a two-horse race between the undefeated Songbird and three-time champion Beholder?
Scratch that.
Stellar Wind’s highly rated win in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes last Saturday was her second over Beholder and triggered a revision in the Daily Racing Form preliminary Distaff odds. Songbird remains 5-2; Beholder and Stellar Wind are co-second choices at 7-2.
