DEL MAR, Calif. – Awesome Baby may have tipped only some of her ability when she scored a convincing win in a maiden race over 5 1/2 furlongs Aug. 4.
“She’s fast,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She ran a big race.”
COLUMBUS, Neb. – A stakes doubleheader highlights the final Saturday of the Columbus meet with divisions of the $15,000 Columbus Breeders’ Special going six furlongs offered for 3-year-old Nebraska-bred fillies and for colts and geldings.
Saturday’s post time has been moved up to 2 p.m. as the Nebraska Cornhuskers open the football season that evening against Wyoming. The meet closes out a 16-day run on Labor Day with post time at 2 p.m.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In another September, horsemen and fans in Kentucky would be looking ahead this week to the opening of the Turfway Park fall meet. The northern Kentucky track was a vibrant place in its heyday. Ontrack fans enjoyed warm evenings outdoors, and the Kentucky Cup series occupied a prominent spot on the national calendar.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Ju Ju Eyeballs could be vulnerable in the Miss Woodford Stakes when she lays a five-race winning streak on the line.
The Miss Woodford at six furlongs on the main track and the Twin Lights, 1 1/8 miles on the turf, are the $60,000 features for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
The unusual name comes from a Beatles’ lyric in the song “Come Together”: “Here come old flattop. He come grooving up slowly. He got juju eyeball.”
Her groove has been anything but slow since the claim by Jason Servis for $15,000 in December at Gulfstream Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Two-time champion Roxy Gap makes her second start off an extended layoff at Woodbine on Saturday, when she squares off against a sharp Nikkis Smartypants over seven furlongs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Seaway Stakes.
Roxy Gap won Sovereign Awards as Canada’s champion female sprinter and champion older female in 2012, during which she won 3 of 9 starts and $523,173. She beat a quality field in the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes, but her best effort may have come in the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes, in which she ran second to Marketing Mix over soft turf.
RACE 1
6 Furlongs
Law Enforcement Stakes (NY-Breds)
2-year-olds
Purse $100,000
1. FREE MUGATU (Utopia - Thunder Babe, by Appealing Skier)
Although outsprinted early over a sealed, sloppy track, this colt came with a professional run to overwhelm the pacesetters; altered course to the inside in midstretch and picked them up without much fuss; must break from a tough inside post, but should get some speed to attack once again; not out of this with normal 2nd-out improvement.
Facey's Spirit led from start to finish to win the $89,300 Merrillville for Indiana-bred fillies and mares at Indiana Downs Wednesday evening. One race later, Prince of Time won the $85,000 Brickyard for statebred 3-year-olds and up.
Trained by Chris Dorris and ridden by C.C. Lopez, Facey's Spirit dug in late to win the six-furlong Merrillville by a half-length. Dreamin Big closed late for trainer Mike Lauer to finish second, 3 1/2 lengths in front of Hoosier Honey, a late-charging third.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Fort Larned, last year's Breeders' Cup Classic winner, will scratch from Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga due to a hind end issue, trainer Ian Wilkes said Thursday.
Wilkes said he didn't like the way Fort Larned looked coming off the track following a Thursday morning gallop.
[SARATOGA 2013: Complete meet coverage, exclusive DRF videos]
Smash and Grab, returning six days after he was beaten as the 1-5 favorite in a half-mile allowance sprint at Timonium, handled the stretch out to a mile to win Thursday’s off-the-turf, $51,100 Nick Shuk Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Not long after Lexie Lou took the Muskoka Stakes by disqualification, owner/trainer John Ross won his second $200,000 stakes on Wednesday night at Woodbine with favored Go Greeley in the Simcoe.
Go Greeley ($6.20) stalked the pace along the inside on the turn under Eurico Rosa Da Silva as Spin the King set moderate fractions in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 2-year-old males.
