SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Crown Queen certainly had the pedigree to be a stakes horse. The question was: On which surface would she excel?
It became obvious to trainer Bill Mott right away that Crown Queen would take more after her mother, Delta Princess – a three-time graded stakes winner on turf – than her half-sister Royal Delta, a two-time champion and 10-time stakes winner on dirt.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Paulo Lobo, who trained the 2002 champion 3-year-old filly Farda Amiga, has reopened a stable in Southern California after spending the last four years in his native Brazil.
Lobo, 45, and his family arrived in late July. His small stable currently is based at Los Alamitos. Lobo said he worked as a private trainer in Brazil in recent years, an arrangement that ended this summer.
“My contract ended last month,” Lobo said. “Instead of opening a public stable in Brazil, we decided to open a stable here. I was kind of homesick.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Mr. Candy could earn his way into the $150,000, Grade 3 British Columbia Derby with a win in the sixth race Friday at Hastings. The son of Candy Ride likely will be a short price in the first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds going 6 1/2 furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar is showing declines in both on- and off-track handle, and attendance is slightly down through the first four weeks of the season.
Total handle is averaging $12,040,282, a decline of 7.6 percent from comparable dates in 2013. On-track handle is averaging $2,224,041 per day, a decline of 11.7 percent. Handle from out of state, including advance-deposit wagering based outside California, is off 9.8 percent from last year.
Attendance is off just 2.1 percent for a still-healthy average of 18,035 on-track fans per day.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Richard Mandella hardly could contain the smile on his face after seeing how the two-time champion Beholder worked Monday, when she zipped five furlongs in 58.80 seconds, the best of 41 workouts at the distance.
“I thought that was a pretty good sign,” Mandella said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Judy the Beauty, Reneesgotzip, and Santa Anita Oaks winner Fashion Plate are among the prospective field for the Grade 3, $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Sunday at Del Mar.
Judy the Beauty has not raced since finishing fourth in the Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, May 3. Prior to that, she won the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland on Polytrack. She owns five wins in six starts on synthetic surfaces.
Reneesgotzip is making her first start since Nov. 2, when she finished in a dead heat for second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Molly Morgan, the winner of the Grade 3 Gardenia at Ellis Park last Saturday, is being pointed for the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 5, trainer Dale Romans said Wednesday.
The Spinster, a Win and You’re In prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Oct. 31, is among the most prestigious races for fillies and mares in Kentucky and could reveal whether she fits in the Breeders’ Cup. This fall, the Spinster will be contested on Keeneland’s new dirt track, which is being laid down this summer, replacing its synthetic Polytrack surface.
The 19-day summer meeting at Golden Gate Fields opens with a new version of the pick six. The Stronach Group-owned track will debut the 20-cent wager when the track opens Friday.
Gulfstream Park, Golden Gate’s sister track in Florida, unveiled the wager at its meet earlier this year, and the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meet also offered the wager. The Golden Pick 6, offered daily on the final six races on the card, is a jackpot-style wager paid out if there is only one winning ticket with all six winners.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Post positions won’t be assigned until Wednesday, but entries for the four major Saturday stakes at Arlington Park were taken Tuesday, and all the pre-entered horses are expected to run.
The Million has Finnegans Wake, Hardest Core, Magician, Real Solution, Side Glance, Smoking Sun, and Up With the Birds.
Alterite, Emollient, Euro Charline, I’m Already Sexy, Just The Judge, La Tia, Somali Lemonade, Sparkling Beam, Stephanie’s Kitten, Street of Gold, and Tannery are in the Beverly D.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Wayne Catalano was to be discharged from St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Tuesday afternoon following a 22-day stay there to treat a severe case of influenza and pneumonia.
