ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile headlines a terrific weekend of turf racing, with five graded stakes on the grass and four fees-paid berths to the Breeders’ Cup up for grabs.
The probable field for the Woodbine Mile includes 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tepin, who would be making her first start since she captured the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting in June.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s no rest for the weary on the Kentucky circuit these days. Aside from the time-consuming sales grind that many horsemen are going through, an 11-day race meet starts Friday at Churchill Downs less than 24 hours after Kentucky Downs ends Thursday.
The first big day of the Churchill meet comes Saturday, with four stakes, including a pair of 2-year-old races, the Pocahontas and Iroquois. Both 1 1/16-mile races are Win and You’re In events toward the Nov. 4-5 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Good weather led to good business for the opening weekend of Belmont Park’s fall meet.
All-sources handle for opening weekend, last Friday through Sunday, was $27,016,418, a 14.2 percent increase over last year’s figure of $23,661,082 for the first three days. Ontrack handle was $3,479,090, an 8.6 percent increase over last year’s figure of $3,201,596.
This year, all 15 scheduled turf races were run on the turf, whereas last year, nine of the first 15 scheduled turf races had to be moved to the dirt due to inclement weather.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Governor Malibu, a New York-bred 3-year-old, was nominated to the Pennsylvania Derby but may be pointed to an easier spot, trainer Christophe Clement said Sunday.
In his last three starts, Governor Malibu finished fourth in the Belmont Stakes, second in the Jim Dandy, and fifth in the Travers. He is still eligible for a first-level open or second-level New York-bred allowance condition. Then there is the $300,000 Empire Classic for New York-breds on Oct. 22.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Hit It Once More, a winner of two stakes restricted to New York-breds this summer, worked a sharp five furlongs in 59.72 seconds Sunday over the Belmont Park main track in preparation for the Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 24.
Under regular jockey Kendrick Carmouche, Hit It Once More got his final quarter in 24.57 seconds and then galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.31, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Everybody likes a plan to come together. And for Mike Maker, boy, his plan for the Kentucky Downs meet has come together nicely.
With Florent Geroux riding most of his stock, Maker has come close to maxing out at the five-day meet that ends Thursday. The 47-year-old trainer has won four stakes – remarkably, all with horses he claimed for various clients – and his meet earnings are nearly $1.3 million.
CYPRESS, Calif. - Drefong, who has emerged as a leading 3-year-old sprinter in recent months, worked three furlongs in 37.40 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday, his first workout since a win in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 27.
Drefong, trained by Bob Baffert for Charles Chu, is a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 5. Baffert said on Sunday that he will decide in the next week whether Drefong will have a race prior to the BC Sprint.
CYPRESS, Calif. - Hard Aces, who won the Grade 3 Cougar II Handicap at Del Mar in July, but was only eighth in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 20, is being pointed to the $200,000 Marathon Stakes at 1 3/4 miles at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
Where Hard Aces starts in the interim is unclear, trainer John Sadler said over the weekend.
“I’ve got to figure out a way to get him to the Marathon,” he said. “I’d like to race him once before then. It could be the Awesome Again.”
CYPRESS, Calif. - Soi Phet is on the verge of a well-earned winter vacation.
After winning his third stakes in his last four starts in Saturday’s $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes for California-bred milers at Los Alamitos, trainer Leonard Powell said Soi Phet is likely to have one start at the Santa Anita autumn meeting before being turned out. The reason is simple: Soi Phet is not a wintertime horse.
“He never runs well in the winter and we can bring him back in the spring,” Powell said. “He’ll tell me.”
