LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A full gate of 14 2-year-olds has been entered in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, which once again will share the Stars of Tomorrow spotlight with its Grade 2 sister, the Golden Rod Stakes, on an outstanding Saturday program at Churchill Downs.
The twin stakes, each worth $200,000 and set for 1 1/16 miles, anchor a 12-race card restricted entirely to 2-year-olds, continuing an end-of-meet tradition dating to 2005. The Golden Rod drew nine fillies.
MIAMI – The $1.05 million Sunshine Millions and the $2.9 million Florida Sire Stakes series are the highlights of a 2016 stakes program for Florida-breds worth $4.5 million, according to a release from Gulfstream Park, which partnered with the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association and the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association on the stakes schedule.
Alert Bay, a 4-year-old gelding, has amassed a collection of stakes wins throughout the West in the last year for owner Peter Redekop of British Columbia and trainer Blaine Wright. Along the way, Alert Bay has won stakes at Hastings Park in Vancouver, Zia Park in New Mexico, and at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita.
Del Mar might be next on his list of stakes-winning venues.
Parx Racing has added a Friday card to Thanksgiving week. First post is 12:25 p.m. Eastern.
The two best races on the nine-race program are race 6, a second-level allowance for Pennsylvania-breds, and race 8, a third-level optional-claiming race. Both are at six furlongs.
Lexington Street, the impressive winner of the Maryland Million Lassie on Oct. 17, is scheduled to run in a first-level optional-claiming race for 2-year-old fillies at Laurel Park on Friday.
Phlash Phelps’s 3- and 4-year-old seasons have been polar opposites. At 3, he couldn’t win, and at 4, he has never lost.
Phlash Phelps scored his biggest win of the season Oct. 17 in the Maryland Million Turf. He now will be given the winter off by Laurel Park-based horseman Rodney Jenkins.
“I’m going to try to have a nice campaign with him next year,” Jenkins said.
E Dubai’s Humor was one of the more promising 2-year-old fillies in Maryland last fall. Her recent win at Laurel Park indicates she now may be one of the better 3-year-olds in the state.
E Dubai’s Humor’s last four starts have come on November afternoons at Laurel. Two of those races were last year, when she won a first-level optional-claiming race by almost four lengths and then finished a close second in the $100,000 Smart Halo.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – While Pender Harbour likely will race for the final time in the Grade 3, $150,000 Valedictory Stakes on Sunday, the Woodbine meet’s closing day, his 2-year-old full brother, Mike, is on track to make his debut on the same day.
Trainer John LeBlanc Jr. said Mike would be entered in an Ontario-sired maiden special weight race over seven furlongs on Polytrack that is in the condition book for Sunday. LeBlanc said a five-furlong race slated for Friday’s card is a little too short for Mike.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – With the Woodbine meet set to close this weekend, future stars could emerge with three 2-year-old stakes on tap, including the $150,000 Ontario Lassie and the $125,000 Kingarvie on Saturday and the $125,000 Display Stakes on Sunday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown will send out two juvenile colts – Gift Box and Flexibility – in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Remsen at 1 1/8 miles here.
Gift Box, a son of Twirling Candy, defeated Matt King Coal by a nose in an off-the-turf race at Belmont on Oct. 3 in his second start. Matt King Coal returned to win a maiden race and earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 96. Flexibility, a New York-bred son of Bluegrass Cat, defeated statebreds in his Oct. 10 debut and finished second to Mohaymen in the Grade 2 Nashua on Nov. 4.
