DEL MAR, Calif. – Shared Belief has made his living as the outsider. He did not run in last year’s Breeders’ Cup, but it mattered not when he completed an unbeaten campaign with a runaway victory weeks later in the CashCall Futurity, propelling him to the Eclipse Award as champion male 2-year-old.
Shared Belief missed the Triple Crown this spring owing to foot problems, yet has come back so strongly in two starts this year that he is ranked as one of the top 3-year-olds in the country.
AUBURN, Wash. - Stryker Phd drew post 9 and was installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite Wednesday for Sunday's Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile. In keeping with recent history, Emerald Downs's signature race attracted a full field of 12. It will go as race 7 on a card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific. Post time for the Mile is 5:01.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill – The Pizza Man came out of his win in the $400,000 American St. Leger Stakes last Saturday in good shape and is likely to make his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, according to Rich Papiese, who bred and owns The Pizza Man with his wife, Karen.
Papiese and trainer Roger Brueggemann could have a second Breeders’ Cup starter as well, with Work All Week being pointed to the BC Sprint, Papiese said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Multiple Grade 1 winner On Fire Baby remains on target for the Sept. 6 Locust Grove on opening weekend of the 12-day September meet at Churchill, trainer Gary “Red Dog” Hartlage said this week.
Unraced since finishing fifth as the favorite in the June 14 Fleur de Lis at Churchill, On Fire Baby has been breezing about every 10 days. “Her next one will be [Aug.] 26 or 27,” said Hartlage. “Everything’s real good with her right now.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In the winter, it wouldn’t have been hard to imagine trainer Shug McGaughey being a player in Saratoga’s Travers Stakes. Honor Code, coming off a Grade 2 Remsen victory last fall, was one of the more highly regarded 3-year-olds entering the year. Top Billing, on Jan. 25, looked good winning a first-level optional-claiming race at Gulfstream Park.
With the 29-day Ellis Park meet entering its final two-week stretch, apprentice rider Juan Saez continues to pull away atop the jockeys’ standings. Saez, the 17-year-old younger brother of New York-based standout Luis Saez, entered Friday with 37 wins at the meet that began July 3, 16 more than his closest pursuer, Miguel Mena.
The Ellis trainers’ race is much closer. Buff Bradley entered Friday as the leader with eight wins, with Dale Romans (seven) and Ken McPeek (six) right behind.
Turf Paradise unveiled a $1.6 million stakes schedule as the Phoenix track prepares for its 59th racing season. The 144-day meet opens Oct. 18 and runs through May 5. The 42-stakes roster is headed by the $75,000 Phoenix Gold Cup on Feb. 14.
This will be the first meeting with phone wagering. That, plus a reduction in dates and races, will result in an increase of between 5 percent and 10 percent for overnight purses. Phone wagering was signed into law last May and went into effect this month.
Longtime assistant trainer Joe Sharp soon will be leaving the employ of Mike Maker to open a public stable that will be based in Kentucky for most of the year and at Fair Grounds during the winter.
Sharp, 29, said this week from Saratoga that he hopes to have about 10 horses either at Churchill or the nearby Trackside training center after the Saratoga meet ends Sept. 1. He said he has a handful of clients lined up and that Maker “is super-supportive of me going out on my own.” Among the owners for whom he might be training are Ken and Sarah Ramsey, said Sharp.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dayatthespa was one of seven fillies and mares entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga, but she is not a definite to run.
Trainer Chad Brown said he planned to cross-enter Dayatthespa in Sunday’s $150,000 Yaddo Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares, a race that is expected to attract the Grade 1 winner Discreet Marq. Dayatthespa’s last win came in the Yaddo Stakes here last summer.
Both the Ballston Spa and Yaddo are run at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Nobody has trained any faster or has looked any happier here over the past two weeks than Fast Anna, who’ll try to keep his record unblemished in Saturday’s $500,000 King’s Bishop.
Fast Anna was one of eight horses entered Wednesday for the Grade 1 King’s Bishop, drawing post 6, which puts him right next to another of the primary speed horses in the field, The Big Beast, who’ll break from post 7.
