Fri, 09/27/2013 - 13:58

Churchill Downs notes: Catalano riding hot streak into Keeneland meet

Barbara D. Livingston
Wayne Catalano, whose horses won 10 of 15 starts at the recent Kentucky Downs meet, figures to be among the leading trainers at the upcoming 17-day Keeneland meet.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wayne Catalano said a friend was curious about what he was doing in recent weeks when his horses went on an incredible 10-for-15 tear at Kentucky Downs.

“I told him, ‘I’m house hunting down there!’ ” joked Catalano. “I mean, I don’t know. We were just fortunate to have a meet like that. You don’t see something like that very often.”

No, you don’t, and not even from a trainer who perennially dominates his home Chicago circuit and generally wins his share wherever he travels, including Kentucky in the spring and fall and Florida in the winter.

Fri, 09/27/2013 - 13:44

Fort Erie: Trainer Wills winning at 30 percent during meet

FORT ERIE, Ontario – Dan Wills, 53, has been active as a trainer at both Fort Erie and Woodbine since 2000, and year after year, he continues to send out winners at both ovals.

Fort Erie has been his home base since he formally took out his trainer’s license. His partner in life and assistant trainer at the track, Jeanne Ryan, owns the majority of horses in his barn.

“I have been round horses all my life, and it all began in England when as a teenager I began working with Thoroughbreds and gained my apprentice jockey’s license at the age of 16,” Wills said.

Fri, 09/27/2013 - 13:23

Churchill Downs: Maker optimistic about comeback for King David

Tom Keyser
King David, whose first start after a claim resulted in a Grade 1 victory last year, has been out of action for eight months. He will return in an optional claiming race Sunday at Churchill.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – King David is a real racing rarity as a horse whose first start after a claim resulted in a Grade 1 victory. The colt pulled off that remarkable feat last fall in winning the Jamaica on the Belmont Park turf after being haltered for $35,000 just three weeks earlier.

The postscript wasn’t quite as storybook, however, because King David was forced to the shelf just a few months later with a knee chip. Fast-forward eight months, and the epilogue to his continuing tale begins Sunday on the closing-day program of the 12-day September meet at Churchill Downs.

Fri, 09/27/2013 - 13:13

Woodbine: Belmont's Jamaica may decide Canada's champion 3-year-old

Barbara D. Livingston
Five Iron, with Luis Saez aboard, wins the Grade 3 Saranac Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths at Saratoga on Sunday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Sovereign Award for champion 3-year-old male could be decided on foreign soil next Saturday with both Five Iron and Up With the Birds slated to travel to Belmont Park for the Grade 1, $500,000 Jamaica at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

Five Iron, a Kentucky-bred, will be seeking his fourth straight stakes win, all at 1 1/8 miles, in the Jamaica.

Fri, 09/27/2013 - 12:15

Woodbine: Reconnect seeks favorable pace in Classy ’n Smart

Michael Burns
Reconnect, who won the Belle Mahone Aug. 25, will face ostensibly easier opposition in the $125,000 Classy ’n Smart Stakes for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Reconnect rallied to register a major upset over multiple open stakes winner Sisterly Love here in the 1 1/16-mile Belle Mahone on Aug. 25.

On Sunday, Reconnect will travel the same distance but face ostensibly easier opposition in the $125,000 Classy ’n Smart Stakes for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.

“She just needs something to run at,” said Ashlee Brnjas, who trains the homebred 5-year-old for the Colebrook Farms of her father, John Brnjas. “That last race set up for her perfectly.”

Thu, 09/26/2013 - 21:45

Presque Isle Downs: Awesome Flower cruises in HBPA Stakes

Coady Photography
Awesome Flower wins the HBPA Stakes under jockey Alan Garcia.

Awesome Flower, under Alan Garcia, came from midpack to win the $100,000 HBPA on Thursday evening, the closing card of the Presque Isle Downs meet.

Trained by Mike Maker for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Awesome Flower bided her time on the outside in fifth early. As the front-runners began to drop out of it in the stretch, the 4-year-old filly began to pick up horses and won by 3 1/2 lengths. Primed For Passion under Mario Pino was second, a nose in front of Unavailable in third. 

Thu, 09/26/2013 - 18:42

Santa Anita: Schoolofhardrocks intriguing contender in FrontRunner

Shigeki Kikkawa
Tamarando, winner of the Del Mar Futurity, will stretch out to 1 1/16 miles for the FrontRunner.

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ARCADIA, Calif. – There was a sense this summer at Del Mar that the leading 2-year-old males were a solid, but not spectacular, bunch, a theory that seemingly was confirmed in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, which Tamarando, a horse yet to be nominated to the Breeders’ Cup, won with a moderate Beyer Speed Figure of 78 in a race where the first six finishers were separated by two lengths after seven furlongs.

Thu, 09/26/2013 - 18:33

Santa Anita: Marketing Mix, Tiz Flirtatious renew rivalry in Rodeo Drive

Shigeki Kikkawa
Marketing Mix has lost only once in three starts this season heading into the Rodeo Drive.

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ARCADIA, Calif. – Marketing Mix and Tiz Flirtatious were separated by only a head after a thrilling running of the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park in May. The rematch occurs in Saturday’s $250,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita.

Thu, 09/26/2013 - 18:14

Delaware: School House springs $37.60 surprise in With Anticipation Stakes

School House, the second longest shot on the board at 17-1, rallied in deep stretch to get up by a neck in Thursday’s $50,250 With Anticipation Stakes at Delaware Park.

Ridden for the first time by Kendrick Carmouche, who came in from Philadelphia for the mount, the 6-year-old School House ($37.60) made up 2 1/2 lengths in the final furlong to prevail among five horses who were bunched at the finish of the 1 1/16-mile turf race.

Thu, 09/26/2013 - 17:52

Santa Anita: Tyler Baze attending alcoholism program

Jockey Tyler Baze, suspended in July for failing a sobriety test in June at Hollywood Park, is in the midst of a 60-day residency rehabilitation program for alcoholism in Pasadena, Calif., and hopes to return to riding in October, according to his agent, Craig O’Bryan.

Baze was suspended 120 days by stewards Scott Chaney, Kim Sawyer, and Tom Ward after failing an alcohol test June 13. The suspension was retroactive to June 13 and ends Oct. 10.