SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – High Dollar Woman, who won a fast maiden race for 2-year-old fillies here earlier in the meet, will likely not run again until next year, trainer Tony Dutrow said Friday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Big Cazanova set his second track record of the season with a runaway allowance victory going 1 1/8 miles Thursday and now will get a shot in graded stakes company, trainer Peter Miller said Friday.
“I think we did the right thing not running in the Pacific Classic,” Miller said. “Going forward, the most likely spot is the Awesome Again, but we’ll look at races out of town, too. He came back well from the race. Two track records in one meet – not bad.”
Santa Anita will have a live-money handicapping tournament, the Santa Anita Autumn Handicapping Challenge, the second weekend of its autumn meet, Oct. 4-5, the track announced on Friday.
The tournament will have $100,000 in prize money. In addition to $30,000 split among the top three finishers, there are five berths to the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship next January, as well as four spots to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, held over the two-day Breeders’ Cup Oct. 31-Nov. 1, and other prizes.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Om would have been the favorite in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on closing day Wednesday, but a minor setback will keep him out. As a result, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said he will take a shot in the race with Iron Fist, who is winless after two starts but was second to Om in a maiden race here Aug. 9.
“That was one of the considerations, that Dan Hendricks’s colt isn’t running,” Hollendorfer said, referring to Om. “The horse is doing well, and if we waited until Santa Anita’s fall meeting, that would be a long time to just keep training him.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has the horse to beat Sunday in the $90,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes. Broken Sword was second Aug. 2 in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch but is eligible for this restricted stakes for older females since she hasn’t won a stakes race since Feb. 1.
In fact, Broken Sword has raced just once since Feb. 1 – in the Clement Hirsch. Hollendorfer gave her an extended vacation earlier this year after she finished fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita in January.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Shared Belief is back home at Golden Gate Fields, but his trainer and co-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer, was back at Del Mar on Friday morning, overseeing the final preparations for the horses he will run here during the last few days of the meet, as well as contemplating the fall campaign for Shared Belief.
CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome will need an ideal preparation in early September to be ready for his scheduled comeback in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 20.
That was the opinion of trainer Art Sherman after California Chrome worked five furlongs in 1:01 at Los Alamitos early Friday. The workout was California Chrome’s fourth since he returned to training in mid-July.
Trainer Larry Jones confirmed Wednesday that Cassatt, the winner of the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks in her stakes debut Aug. 9, is still under consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 20.
Cassatt, a strapping gray daughter of Tapit, is 3 for 3 this year. Owned by the Fox Hill Farm of Rick Porter, Cassatt has not been challenged in any of her 2014 starts but would be taking a big jump in class in the Cotillion.
California-based trainer Doug O’Neill has shipped Private Zone to Parx Racing for Monday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Turf Monster Handicap, a five-furlong turf sprint. The Turf Monster will be Private Zone’s first start since he finished second to Flat Out in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct last November.
The Turf Monster will be the grass debut for Private Zone, the winner of the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont last September.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As expected, trainer Tony Dutrow entered Saratoga Special winner I Spent It on Thursday for Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes. Also expected, however, is that I Spent It will scratch to run in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont on Oct. 4.
Dutrow wanted to enter the Hopeful to keep his options open in case something happens to expected favorite Competitive Edge.
I Spent It drew post 5, and Competitive Edge drew post 7.
Others entered in the Hopeful include Requite, Maratik, Signature Cat, and Sharm.