Victory Nor Defeat, a promising son of Unbridled’s Song who finished third in the Grade 2 Super Derby last weekend at Louisiana Downs, is being considered for a start in the Indiana Derby, said his trainer, Ralph Nicks. The Grade 2, $500,000 race will be run at Indiana Grand on Oct. 4.
Victory Nor Defeat invaded from Gulfstream Park for the Super Derby and finished third behind dominant winner Vicar’s in Trouble. For the effort, Victory Nor Defeat earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 86.
Kentucky chief steward Barbara Borden said a stewards’ investigation involving Southern California-based trainer A.C. Avila has been closed after Avila recently paid a $750 fine for falsifying information on his trainer’s application.
Disruption, who finished ninth in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile in his last start, will be shipped to California this coming week and will make his next start at Santa Anita, trainer Monique Snowden said Friday. Snowden and owner Heidi Nelson had hoped to run Disruption in a one-mile allowance race Sunday at Emerald, but an anticipated rematch with the Longacres Mile winner, Stryker Phd, was scuttled when the race failed to fill.
AUBURN, Wash. – If all goes according to trainer Dan Markle’s plan, Old Fashioned Grit will jump from a hot pan into a roaring fire when he makes his second lifetime start in the $65,000 Gottstein Futurity on Sept. 28 at Emerald Downs.
A start in the Gottstein would pit Old Fashioned Grit opposite the undefeated 2-year-old sensation Trackattacker, a 4-for-4 front-runner who has been mentioned as a candidate for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile should he ace his first route test in the 1 1/16-mile Gottstein.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red, the winner of the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 3 Hutcheson here at Gulfstream Park last winter, will head to Remington Park on Wednesday to make his next start in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 28. Wildcat Red recently returned from Saratoga, where he finished fifth, beaten three lengths by The Big Beast, in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop.
The Grade 3, $500,000 Charles Town Oaks will be held next Saturday evening.
The Oaks, which will be run around two turns at seven furlongs, is being targeted by Laurel Park-based Miss Behaviour, who finished second in both the Grade 1 Test and Grade 2 Prioress at Saratoga.
In the seven-furlong Test, Miss Behaviour raced close to the pace throughout. She was beaten a length by multiple Grade 1 winner Sweet Reason and held second by a nose over Little Alexis, both of whom are pointing to the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Cozmic One, the first foal out of the champion mare Zenyatta, worked a half-mile in 49.45 seconds Friday morning over Belmont Park’s main track, his first official timed breeze.
Cozmic One, by Bernardini, worked in the middle of a trio of unraced 2-year-olds that included the El Corredor filly Shazara and the Smart Strike colt Smart Transition. Smart Transition, by Smart Strike, is out of the Brazilian-bred mare Zardana, best known for beating 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds in March 2010.
While California Chrome’s much anticipated return to the races makes the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby the No. 1 attraction on the biggest day of the Parx racing season next Saturday, the Grade 1 Cotillion could prove the deeper of the two races.
With eight days until the race, division leader Untapable and two of her closest challengers, Sweet Reason and Stopchargingmaria, are under consideration for the $1 million Cotillion.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Woodward Stakes winner Itsmyluckyday is being pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap on the Jockey Club Gold Cup undercard, trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said Thursday.
The Kelso is a one-turn, one-mile race and could open up more options for Itsmyluckyday, such as the Breeders’ Cup or perhaps the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in late November. Itsmyluckyday is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup and would have to be supplemented to whichever race he might run in.
