LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ian Wilkes knows all too well that the minute you think you can enjoy the fruits of your labor in racing is when you can’t.
Wilkes swept the late double Wednesday at Churchill Downs with a pair of homebreds for Marylou Whitney: Prescott Brown ($7.40) won the ninth race and Bird County ($12.40) led all the way in the 10th, a maiden special weight race at 1 1/16 miles – but that just couldn’t suffice as the end of a nice story, could it?
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Bare Is Best.
That’s the name of the 4-year-old colt who was a 45-1 upsetter in a $12,500 starter allowance at 1 1/4 miles here Wednesday evening.
It also describes the philosophy of Bare Is Best’s trainer, Marc Blouin, who celebrates the racehorse in its natural state.
That methodology involves keeping all of his horses on the farm, turning them out daily, eschewing the use of horseshoes and Lasix, and keeping intact the males when at all possible.
Dashingly, the world champion Quarter Horse in 1983, is one of six individuals to be inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame during a Saturday night gala at Retama Park near San Antonio. The program will be emceed by Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg.
Following the ceremony, there will be a stakes doubleheader featuring Texas Bling in the $50,000 Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame and Lasting Bubbles in the $50,000 Fiesta Mile.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Todd Pletcher and the rest of his training colleagues from up North will not start running horses at Gulfstream Park in earnest until the championship meeting begins Nov. 30. But there were some early signs of winter around here last weekend, when Pletcher and jockey Edgar Prado teamed up to win a pair of races, including Saturday’s main event, the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Classic Preview, with Mordi’s Miracle.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the first time since Churchill Downs began hosting night racing, a Downs After Dark program will directly conflict with a University of Louisville football home game at nearby Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium on Saturday, calling into question whether track attendance might be adversely affected.
Clearly, it wasn’t planned that way. A 7 p.m. Eastern kickoff for the Houston-Louisville game Saturday was not announced until Nov. 4, while Churchill long ago scheduled a 4:30 p.m. start for the only night card of its fall meet.
Golden Gate Fields held a prep race for the Nov. 29 Berkeley Handicap last Friday. Old rivals Positive Response and Hudson Landing signed up, even though the race was on turf and the Berkeley will be run on the main track.
Alas, the rivalry didn’t get its renewal.
Positive Response, the 6-5 morning-line favorite, was scratched. Hudson Landing, who went off as the 6-5 favorite in a field of four, ran last every step of the way. Neither of the veteran stakes winners will compete in the Berkeley.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Mike Keogh has spent his off-seasons on the farm in Aiken, S.C., since taking on the position as trainer for owner-breeder Gustav Schickedanz in 1993.
But time and circumstances bring changes, and this year Keogh will be heading to Fair Grounds, where he has 24 stalls for the meeting that begins Nov. 22.
The Arkansas Racing Commission has proposed a number of amendments to the state’s claiming and workout rules, and if adopted the changes would go into effect with the start of the Oaklawn Park meet in January. Public comment is being received on the amendments, which will be considered for adoption at the commission’s next meeting Nov. 21.
Casiguapo, runner-up in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, was among 14 horses pre-entered Tuesday in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot. The field for the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds will be limited to 10 when it is run Nov. 23. Final entries are Nov. 19.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The $100,000 Sharp Cat Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday drew a field of six, none of which has won a stakes.
Be Proud, Georgia, and Saintly Joan each won a maiden race in her last start. Perched and Pleasant Miss have placed in stakes. Arethusa is a maiden after three starts.
Perched was third in the Barretts Debutante Stakes at the Los Angeles County Fair in September. Pleasant Miss has been second or third in four stakes for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
