A field of nine has been entered for the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks on Saturday. The $300,000 race for 3-year-old fillies is the second-richest race of the meet, behind only the $750,000 Delaware Handicap on July 16.
The Delaware Oaks card will be streamed live on DRF.com.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All-sources handle on Churchill Downs races this spring was up 3.8 percent over comparable 2015 dates, according to figures released Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
Gross handle from all sources at the meet, which ended Saturday, was $392,200,551, up slightly over the $377.9 million wagered here last spring. The daily average was $10,321,067. Both the 2015 and 2016 meets ran 38 dates.
Ellis Park canceled its nine-race Monday program when the western Kentucky track was inundated with heavy rain, leaving the racetrack and much of the facility unusable. Racing will resume Friday on a regular three-day-a-week schedule at 12:50 p.m. Central.
Ellis racing secretary Dan Bork said some of the races that were to be run Monday will be reposted and redrawn for Sunday. The meet, originally scheduled for 30 days, will run through Labor Day, Sept. 5.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Rafael Hernandez has moved his tack to Woodbine from Gulfstream Park, with Sunday’s Queen’s Plate card marking his first full day at Woodbine. Hernandez had five mounts Sunday and rode Cheburashka to a ninth-place finish in the Queen’s Plate for trainer Robert Tiller and owner-breeder Goldmart Farms.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, which oversees horse racing in the province, has announced a rule change that eliminates coupled entries in overnight races.
With the new rule, all entries in overnight and stakes races will be individual betting interests. Woodbine had previously run stakes races with uncoupled entries.
The rule change followed a request from the industry this spring. The proposed change went through a consultation period, and the AGCO said there was support for the new rule from industry stakeholders.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Unified, who finished fifth as the 1-5 favorite in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth on June 19, probably will shorten up in distance for his next start, which could be in the Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga on July 30, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Monday.
The Amsterdam, run at 6 1/2 furlongs, is a prep for the Grade 1 King’s Bishop, a seven-furlong race Aug. 27 at Saratoga.
Jerkens said Unified went back to the track at Belmont on Monday after simply walking the shed row for the last week.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Jerkens will send out a powerful one-two punch of Effinex and Shaman Ghost in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap.
Effinex, last year’s Suburban winner, will be running back just three weeks after he finished a dull sixth as the 3-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.
“It doesn’t look like anything’s wrong with him,” Jerkens said. “He looked better than he did in his life. I can’t understand it. I hope it was an anomaly.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin can only hope Mubtaahij runs as good coming out of the Dubai World Cup as Frosted did.
Mubtaahij, who finished second to California Chrome in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March, is scheduled to make his first start for McLaughlin in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park.
Mubtaahij, formerly trained by Michael de Kock, came to McLaughlin shortly after the Dubai World Cup in March. He shows a steady work tab, including a bullet five-furlong move in 1:01 over the main track June 24.
A one-mile optional-claiming race for fillies and mares is the main even when racing resumes at Gulfstream Park on Thursday.
A field of eight will contest the headliner, led by Double Entendre. She returns to more suitable company after being overmatched in three consecutive stakes races, two of them graded, since winning her debut and being purchased privately during the winter.
While the home team came up empty in the three main events on Saturday’s Summit of Speed program, several locally based horses turned in notable performances during the afternoon, including the once-beaten 3-year-old filly Dearest and the undefeated 2-year-old Three Rules.
