Saturday is Maryland Pride Day at Laurel Park, with a card comprised solely of races for Maryland-bred or Maryland-sired horses, and will include the Mister Diz and Jameela stakes, a pair of $75,000 turf sprints.
Unlike Maryland Million Day in the fall, Maryland Pride Day will give preference to Maryland-breds over Maryland-sired horses. Ben’s Cat, who has won the last six editions of the Mister Diz, is expected to start.
Fourteen horses were entered Tuesday for the Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Derby, which will be held Saturday at Northlands Park. Only 12 will get to run, with Perfect Gent and Warden of the West on the outside looking in.
Last year, the 1 3/8-mile race was dominated by the 3-year-old filly Academic, who also won the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby. There don’t appear to be any standouts in this well-matched field, though.
The Monmouth Park board of stewards has fined jockey Mario Gutierrez $1,000 for careless riding aboard Nyquist in the Haskell Invitational on July 31.
According to the stewards’ ruling, issued Aug. 6, Gutierrez was fined for violating New Jersey racing rule 13:70-11.1 regarding crossing over or weaving. The rule states, “When clear, a horse may be taken to any part of the course, but no horse shall cross over or weave in front of other horses in such a way as to impede them or constitute or cause interference or intimidation.”
Page McKenney this week will begin a new phase in his recovery from a tendon injury as he has been shipped from trainer Mary Eppler’s Pimlico barn to Nor Mar Farm in northern Maryland.
A rags-to-riches claim by owner Adam Staple in July 2013, Page McKenney would have been favored in the $300,000 Pimlico Special on May 20 but was scratched the morning of the race when Eppler discovered slight filling in a tendon. For the past three months, his exercise has been limited to being hand-walked.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It might well be argued that Da Big Hoss already has become one of the greatest claims in American racing history. The 5-year-old Da Big Hoss has won six stakes and nearly $1.1 million since changing hands some 14 months ago.
The scary part: His connections feel like they might just be getting started.
“That’s the feeling,” said Harvey Diamond, the retired physician who with Jimmy Shircliff heads the Louisville-based Skychai Racing partnership that owns Da Big Hoss. “He might bounce sooner or later, but he does just seem to keep on rolling.”
Hazel Park Raceway will extend its live meet through Oct. 1, adding seven additional dates to its 2016 racing calendar.
The newly scheduled dates are Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 10; Sunday, Sept. 18; Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24; and Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 1. Post time for the new dates will be the usual 7:30 p.m. Eastern, except on Sunday, Sept. 18, when racing will begin at 4:30 p.m.
The meet was originally scheduled to comprise 30 days from May 27 to Sept. 3.
Antonio L. “Tony” Diaz, a top Northern California rider and trainer died of cancer Monday at age 67.
Diaz was the leading rider on the Northern California circuit during the 1970s prior to the arrival and development of Russell Baze. He won a number of riding titles at both Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows while scoring 2,505 career wins before his retirement in 1992. His mounts earned more than $20 million.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert said before the meet that he was loaded with 2-year-old fillies, and he was spot on. When American Gal won her debut Sunday, she became the third Baffert-trained prospect for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3, following American Cleopatra and Noted and Quoted.
“I might run all three in there,” he said, referring to the Debutante.
Baffert said American Gal, owned by Kaleem Shah, “had been working really well” prior to Sunday’s race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After riding horses six days a week – many in the morning and in the afternoon – the last thing a jockey wants to do is work a horse on a dark day.
But after guiding Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia through a sensational six-furlong workout Tuesday morning, three-time Eclipse Award winner Javier Castellano was happy to have yielded part of his morning off.
The Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot for 2-year-olds will once again be the centerpiece of the track’s 32-race stakes schedule during the upcoming meet, Delta Downs announced Tuesday. Purses for the stakes program will total $4.6 million.
Delta opens for an 84-date meet Oct. 19. The season will run through March 11.
