OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Kimmel knows all too well what his debut winner Vekoma Rides is up against in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne at Aqueduct.
Kimmel was part of the bloodstock company that helped buy Chancer McPatrick for Sean Flanagan at the OBS April sale for $725,000. Chancer McPatrick won his debut at Saratoga, then came back to win the Grade 1 Hopeful for Flanagan and trainer Chad Brown.
Total handle and handle per race both declined by nearly 20 percent at the recently concluded Churchill Downs September meet, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form.
Total handle and average race handle both declined by 19.4 percent, according to the analysis. In both meets, Churchill carded 135 races over 14 days. Total handle dropped from $93.15 million last year to $75.01 million this year, while average race handle dropped from $689,976 last year to $556,293 this year.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The $2 pick six at Santa Anita on Friday begins with a carryover of $83,940 after a tricky set of results on Sunday.
Wins by the outsiders Commander ($40) and Hacking It Up ($55.60) on Sunday helped to secure the carryover.
This is the first pick six carryover since Santa Anita changed the minimum bet amount for the pick six from $1 earlier this year to $2 at the current autumn meeting, which began last Friday.
The pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a nine-race program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific.
ARCADIA, Calif.– Cabo Spirit financed his way into the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2 with a surprise win in Saturday’s Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita.
The winner’s share of the $753,000 John Henry Turf Championship was $450,000, more than enough for owner Rustin Kretz to cover the hefty $150,000 in pre-entry and entry fees. The fees are still a sizable investment to start Cabo Spirit against an international field, however.
“It would have been nice if it was Win and You’re In,” trainer George Papaprodromou said on Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Subsanador’s summer campaign was briefly in chaos in July after the 5-year-old Argentine-bred was withdrawn from the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar when he was erroneously given the wrong medication too close to race time.
“It was my fault,” trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday. “I made a mistake.”
The situation forced Mandella to alter Subsanador’s schedule. Since then, Subsanador is unbeaten in two starts, including a career-defining win in the Grade 1 California Crown Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
There will be a pick six carryover of $83,911 into Sunday’s card at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet after the $1 bet was not hit Saturday, the track announced.
The pick six on Saturday returned $822.50 on 5 of 6 tickets during the rain-soaked card that featured a handful of preps for the Breeders’ Cup.
Sunday’s sequence will run on races 4 through 9. It includes four fields with overflow entries, including the Grade 2 Miss Grillo, a Win and You’re In qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
There is no shortage of bets linking the major stakes at Santa Anita this weekend.
In an effort to promote Saturday’s California Crown program, and the first weekend of the track’s fall meeting, Santa Anita is offering five bets with 15 percent takeouts, lower than the standard rate of 23.68 for other multi-race bets such as the pick three or pick six.
On Saturday, there is a $1 all-stakes pick five encompassing the day’s stakes races – the Unzip Me, John Henry Turf Championship, Eddie D Stakes, California Crown, and City of Hope Mile. The bet has a mandatory payout.
Linda’s Gift, a four-time stakes winner on turf at Del Mar and Santa Anita in the last year, has been retired after an injury diagnosis, trainer Richard Mandella said on Friday.
The retirement was first reported by Thoroughbred Daily News.
Linda’s Gift, a 5-year-old daughter of Arrogate, is scheduled to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Kentucky on Nov. 4.
Steve Asmussen said two major players for Breeders’ Cup races, Cogburn and Society, won’t start again until November.
Cogburn figures a heavy favorite for the BC Turf Sprint after putting up a third consecutive powerhouse performance winning the Grade 2 Turf Sprint on Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs. Cogburn earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure for that performance following a 111 in the Grade 1 Jaipur at Saratoga in June and a 107 in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill the month before.
Trainer Cherie DeVaux’s hopes for Breeders’ Cup races are based this fall at Keeneland. DeVaux plans to train two of them, Pyrenees and Vahva, straight into Breeders’ Cup starts, while Breeders’ Cup Mile hope More Than Looks starts Oct. 5 in the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland.
