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.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice said that Matt King Coal, a 5 3/4-length maiden winner at Belmont on Oct. 29, will skip graded stakes opportunities this weekend and point for the Grade 3, $200,000 Jerome over Aqueduct’s inner track Jan. 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After toying with, but ultimately rejecting, the idea of adding blinkers to Tonalist’s equipment for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, trainer Christophe Clement said he will put blinkers on Tonalist for Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.
John Velazquez will ride Tonalist in the Cigar Mile.
“Just because going a mile, I think you need to help him a little,” Clement said Monday at Belmont Park. “Just to help Johnny give him a touch more cruising speed.”
