The second annual Fall Festival of Racing at Parx begins Saturday. Overnight purses during the festival will be increased 50 percent and average between $450,000 and $470,000 a day, according to Sam Elliott, the track’s director of racing. The festival runs through Oct. 25.
On Saturday, a third-level optional $40,000 claiming race at six furlongs has a purse of $80,000. A $5,000 claiming sprint earlier on the card has a purse of $31,000.
After both were soundly defeated by Songbird last weekend in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx, it appears that both Carina Mia and Cathryn Sophia will now be pointed to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 5 at Santa Anita.
Both 3-year-olds stand to benefit not only from avoiding Songbird, a shoo-in for a divisional Eclipse Award, but also the shorter distance of the Filly and Mare Sprint. Both figure among a core of major contenders in the seven-furlong race, with a handful of remaining preps helping to determine the other favorites.
A crowded picture for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint should become significantly clearer in the coming days, as host track Santa Anita opens its fall meet with the major local prep – the Grade 3, $100,000 Eddie D Stakes, providing an important chance to get a prep over an idiosyncratic turf course.
Santa Anita’s configuration cards the Turf Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs on the downhill turf course, and in the previous five runnings of the event on that course, four of the winners had previously won there.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Ivan Fallunovalot overcame a difficult trip to win the $150,000 David M. Vance for the third time in his career Sunday at Remington Park and was none the worse for wear Monday.
After being boxed in down the backside of the six-furlong race, Ivan Fallunovalot attempted to advance along the inside on the turn and coming into the stretch but was not able to get through for a while. He won by a length and covered six furlongs on a track rated “good” in 1:09.29. Ivan Fallunovalot earned a 94 Beyer.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown said Sunday he most likely will run both Practical Joke, the winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful, and Favorable Outcome, a sharp debut winner at Saratoga, in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont on Oct. 8.
Both horses are owned by Seth Klarman and William Lawrence. The two horses worked five furlongs in 1:00.91 together over the Belmont main track on Sunday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mo Town, a seven-length winner of a one-mile maiden race at Belmont last Saturday, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Nashua Stakes on the Nov. 4 opening-day card at Aqueduct, trainer Tony Dutrow said Monday.
Mo Town, a son of Uncle Mo, was making the second start of his career last Saturday. He got a beautiful stalking trip under John Velazquez before taking over in upper stretch and drawing clear. He ran a mile in 1:37.26 and earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Cavorting won’t have many workouts between now and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but she had one Monday, breezing a half-mile in 48 seconds over the Belmont Park main track.
It was the first work for Cavorting since her victory in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 27, her third straight graded stakes victory. Though she is nominated to Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin reiterated that Cavorting will simply train up to the Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Lane Luzzi and Tyler Gaffalione will go head-to-head on key contenders in Thursday’s $37,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream. Luzzi rides With a Kiss, and Gaffalione is aboard Tiz Boa in the 7 1/2-furlong turf test for statebred fillies and mares.
Both will have their work cut out to beat likely favorite First Illusion and the lightly raced but improving Somethingelse.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Last summer, it was Tyler Gaffalione who parlayed his success during the Gulfstream Park summer meet into an Eclipse Award as the nation’s leading apprentice. Now, it’s Lane Luzzi who is taking a similar path.
