ELMONT, N.Y. – Comfort and Touchofstarquality, the one-two finishers from the $100,000 State Dinner Stakes here on July 4, head a five-horse field entered for Saturday’s inaugural Seattle Slew Stakes. The Seattle Slew, as was the State Dinner, is run at 1 1/16 miles.
Comfort defeated Touchofstarquality by 3 1/4 lengths in the State Dinner, then finished second to Frosted in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Coming off a solid Saratoga meet with five wins from 33 starters, trainer Brian Lynch is making plans for the fall that include the return of one of his better horses, Heart to Heart.
Heart to Heart, who won three consecutive graded stakes from last November through February, worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds over the Belmont main track on Wednesday. It was his third work since returning from a vacation following a fourth-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita in June.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Protonico, a four-time graded stakes winner, will make his 5-year-old debut Friday in a $90,000 allowance race going a mile that goes as the third race on Belmont Park’s opening-day card.
Protonico, who won the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs in May 2015, has not run since finishing sixth behind Effinex in the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs last Nov. 27.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Chad Brown’s record-setting Saratoga meet included four wins with 2-year-olds on dirt, highlighted by Practical Joke’s neck victory in Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes.
Practical Joke, who also recorded a maiden win at Saratoga, may not even have been Brown’s most impressive 2-year-old winner of the meet. Favorable Outcome won his debut by six lengths on Aug. 20, running six furlongs in 1:09.87.
Both horses are owned by Seth Klarman and Bill Lawrence, and both are being considered for the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park on Oct. 8, Brown said Wednesday.
CYPRESS, Calif. - The $75,000 Beverly Lewis Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos was scheduled to be run Saturday but did not draw sufficient entries on Wednesday and has been postponed. Los Alamitos may try to bring it back for Sunday.
The race had 15 nominations, but only four fillies had reportedly been entered when the decision was made to scrap the race. If the race is held on Sunday, it will fill a void on the track’s calendar. No stakes was originally scheduled for Sunday.
Cathryn Sophia came out of her easy 6 1/2-length win in the $150,000 Princess of Sylmar last Saturday at Parx Racing in fine shape, according to trainer John Servis, and is ready for her meeting with undefeated champion Songbird in the Grade 1 Cotillion on Sept. 24.
“It worked out perfect,” Servis said. “She came out of the race great, she got a good number. I’m excited about the prospect of racing against Songbird. It’s been a long time coming.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – With Honors, who remained unbeaten with her victory in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Monday, will have her final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in the $100,000 Surfer Girl Stakes on Oct. 10 at Santa Anita, according to Alex Solis Jr., the racing manager for owner-breeder LNJ Foxwoods.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Klimt and Straight Fire, the one-two finishers, both came out of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Monday well and are being pointed to the Grade 1, $300,000 FrontRunner on Oct. 1 at Santa Anita, their connections said Tuesday.
Klimt, a son of Quality Road, followed up his victory in last month’s Best Pal with an even more impressive score Monday. His trainer, Bob Baffert, believes he will do even better with more distance.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The Del Mar summer season that ended on Monday featured some of the best stakes racing in the track’s history, which propelled the track’s business to a strong finish, but not enough to make up for a sluggish start, leaving Del Mar’s average all-sources handle and attendance below those of the prior summer.
In addition, Del Mar had a rash of equine fatalities that caused animal rights protesters to speak out last month at a California Horse Racing Board meeting, and several, carrying placards, protested outside the track on Monday.
