Artemis Agrotera, the dominant winner of the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 23, will run in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap on Sept. 20 as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, trainer Mike Hushion said Wednesday.
Hushion said he would rather run the New York-bred 3-year-old filly again as opposed to simply training up to the Breeders’ Cup.
“To train her 10 weeks and work her seven times, I’d rather get one good race in her. That would fit the bill the best,” he said.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Ten 3-year-olds were entered at Hastings on Wednesday for the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby. The 1 1/8-mile feature headlines a solid 10-race card Sunday that includes the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks.
A half-brother to 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and multiple Grade 1 winner Dullahan will make his career debut in the seventh race Saturday at Churchill.
Thirtysevenliveson, a 2-year-old colt by Giant’s Causeway out of Mining My Own, shows 10 official workouts dating to late May.
“You can only hope he can run like his big brothers,” said Dale Romans, who trains the $675,000 yearling purchase for Zayat Stables.
Eighttofasttocatch, a Maryland mainstay since 2008, made his first start since December in the $100,000 Japan Racing Association last Saturday at Laurel. Even though the race did not go according to plan, trainer Timothy Keefe said the 8-year-old got enough out of it to be ready for the Oct. 9 Maryland Million Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race Eighttofasttocatch won in both 2011 and 2013.
Ride On Curlin, unraced since being eased in the June 7 Belmont Stakes following his second-place finish in the Preakness, will return to his Churchill barn this weekend, said trainer Billy Gowan, who has been giving the colt time off at his Shepherdsville, Ky., farm.
“I’d intended to bring him back a couple weeks earlier but had a little setback,” said Gowan. “We should be fine, though.”
Meanwhile, a yearling half-brother to Ride On Curlin did not sell Monday at Keeneland when failing to meet his reserve price.
Running a horse in the biggest race of the Kentucky Downs meet never fails to remind Ken McPeek of what occurred in the 2003 running, when one of his horses, Art Variety, was disqualified from first to third.
“Still one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in racing,” said McPeek, a trainer since 1985.
After finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Beverly D. at 1 3/16 miles in her last start, Somali Lemonade may shorten up to a mile in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland on Oct. 4, trainer Michael Matz said Wednesday.
Matz had been considering running Somali Lemonade in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont on Sept. 27. Somali Lemonade finished sixth in last year’s Flower Bowl.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion will be keeping close tabs on the weekend weather in New York as he plans to run Daring Dancer in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont Park.
Daring Dancer was one of 10 3-year-old fillies – including one main-track-only entrant – entered Wednesday for the Sands Point, a 1 1/8-mile race that was switched on the calendar with the Grade 1 Garden City. The Garden City was moved to the summer meet and renamed the Belmont Oaks Invitational.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The July 19 Arlington Oaks was on Polytrack, and the Pucker Up Stakes is on grass, but the one-two finishers in the local Oaks, Aurelia’s Belle and Stellaris, also appear to be prime players Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Pucker Up.
Niall Saville is trying to expand his stable, and Legendary just might be the showcase horse he needs to grab the attention of prospective owners.
Last Saturday at Laurel, Legendary gave Saville his first stakes win by scoring an emphatic victory in the $100,000 Japan Racing Association Stakes. Saville now is pointing the 5-year-old to the Grade 3, $200,000 Knickerbocker at Belmont Park on Oct. 11.
