ELMONT, N.Y. – Though trainer Chad Brown doesn’t believe Lady Eli is particularly fond of soft turf, she definitely seemed to handle it well Monday at Belmont Park, where she worked a half-mile in 48.26 seconds in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl.
Lady Eli worked outside of Beach Patrol and got her final three furlongs in 35.51 seconds.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Shaman Ghost, the winner of the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 3, will skip Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park and just train up to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Santa Anita, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Sunday.
Owned by Frank Stronach, Shaman Ghost won the Woodward with eight weeks between races. By skipping the Gold Cup, Shaman Ghost will have nine weeks between the Woodward and the Breeders’ Cup.
MIAMI – Trainer Jose Pinchin said Monday that his undefeated and unchallenged 2-year-old Three Rules is definitely Breeders’ Cup bound following his easy 10-length victory in Saturday’s In Reality Stakes.
Three Rules completed his sweep of the Florida Sire Stakes series and remained perfect in five starts. He earned an 87 Beyer Speed Figure despite being geared down to the wire by jockey Cornelio Velasquez. The 1 1/16-mile In Reality was his two-turn debut.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The ways in which California Chrome has improved from ages 3 to 5 are numerous, but overcoming his apprehension at racing inside horses may be the biggest reason for his perfect record this year, for California Chrome in three of his 2016 races has overcome an inside draw and easily prevailed.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Victory to Victory drew away from her rivals to win her maiden in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes here Sept. 18. Trainer Mark Casse hopes she can follow in stablemate Catch a Glimpse’s footsteps when she makes her next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The newly installed turf course at Santa Anita was met with praise from several prominent riders after the first weekend of the track’s autumn meeting, even though some expressed concern about the amount of water applied to the course after Friday’s opening-day program.
The course, a Bermuda-Bandera blend, was installed in June, replacing a surface that showed significant wear and tear in the preceding year. The new course was used for 11 races from Friday through Sunday – four races each on Friday and Saturday and three on Sunday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Runhappy remains on target for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile following a disappointing fourth-place finish for the 2015 sprint champion in the Grade 3 Ack Ack on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
Trainer Laura Wohlers said Monday from her Lexington, Ky., base that Runhappy exited the race in good fashion. The colt was making his 4-year-old debut after being away from the races since a victory in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita last Dec. 26.
California's 2016 fair racing season concludes with the nine-day Big Fresno Fair starting Thursday.
Fresno traditionally followed the San Joaquin County Fair at Stockton's race dates, which were transferred to the Alameda County Fair for a special six-day Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting.
Industry leaders expected the OTP meeting to surpass recent results at Stockton, and the fair did that.
“It was good to see we followed through with those predictions,” said California Authority of Racing Fairs racing secretary Tom Doutrich.
CYPRESS, Calif. – For a horse who had just run flat out for the first six furlongs of a 1 1/8-mile race and earned one of the fastest Beyer Speed Figures of his career, California Chrome on Sunday morning at Los Alamitos sure wasn’t acting like his performance the previous afternoon in the Awesome Again at Santa Anita had taken much out of him.
California Chrome was at the front of his double-wide stall at trainer Art Sherman’s barn, looking for the cookies he adores, and which Sherman had in ample supply.
