Kentucky Downs long has been known as quaint and unique, a country track where the lush and undulating turf course and an understated vibe have made a day trip to rural south-central Kentucky a memorable one for many.
Yet after some 20 years of abbreviated September meets, Kentucky Downs suddenly has become even more charming – at least to horsemen. Why? There’s gold in them thar hills on the Tennessee border.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Angela Hermann, Canterbury Park’s track handicapper and paddock analyst since 2011, has done just about every job on the front side of this track in the last nine years: Clubhouse usher, ticket sales, guest services, and even the dispatcher in the valet parking area. There was one job, however, she always wanted to try.
She wanted to call the races.
On Saturday, Hermann, 27, will become the first woman to announce an entire race card at a North American Thoroughbred track.
Kingoftherockies faces a stern test when he goes for his seventh straight win this year at Northlands Park in Saturday’s $50,000 Sun Sprint Championship. The 6 1/2-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up headlines a nine-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.
Included in the seven-horse field are last year’s local champion sprinter, Ready Racer, and Dougs Buddy, who is 5 for 6 in sprints in his 15-race career.
Graduates of last March’s John Franks Memorial 2-year-olds in training sale will have the spotlight Saturday night at Evangeline Downs, the final program of the 2013 season. The two divisions of the Franks Memorial Stakes will carry $50,000 purses each and will be contested at 5 1/2 furlongs.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Departing overwhelmed his competition last month when he won the West Virginia Derby by 8 3/4 lengths. He’ll be odds-on for an encore performance Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.
“He’s definitely the horse to beat,” said Dan Peitz, who trains rival Bashaar.
Departing is a multiple graded stakes winner of more than $1 million. He is by one of the planet’s hottest stallions in War Front, and goes for connections who have won the Super Derby. Departing is also still an improving horse, according to trainer Al Stall Jr.
Woodbine-based trainer Roger Attfield hasn’t bothered to ship any horses to Delaware Park since Honimiere and Perfect Shirl were fifth and 10th in the Grade 3 Robert Dick Memorial in July 2011. But Attfield may have found the right runner to make the long trip from suburban Toronto to Delaware worthwhile Saturday.
Are You Kidding Me, second behind recent Grade 3 winner Five Iron in the 1 1/8-mile Toronto Cup, gets the same distance and grass surface for the Kent, a Grade 3, $200,000 stakes restricted to 3-year-olds.
It will be Round 4 of Maddie’s Gold versus Megatron Ruler in the $50,000 Winnipeg Futurity at Assiniboia Downs on Saturday.
The Winnipeg Futurity, which goes at six furlongs, attracted a field of six and will go as the third of eight races on the program.
Maddie’s Gold drew first blood in the heated rivalry, running down the speed of Megatron Ruler to score by a neck when both were debuting at 4 1/2 furlongs on June 29.
Barns are emptying out, and vans are carrying horses away. Saratoga has wrapped up its 2013 meet, its 150th. My cameras will soon be aimed toward Belmont scenes and memories.
This season, like every other season, offered countless photographic opportunities for this lifelong fan of the Spa − from opening day, when Bahnah and Brazen Persuasion hit the wire together in the Schuylerville, to closing day in the Hopeful, when Strong Mandate ran away from his opponents.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s been plenty of drama involving a 2-year-old named Ride On Curlin, and that’s after just two races. The colt was so impressive in two starts that his connections were absolutely besieged with big-money offers, and yet after exhaustive wrangling a deal never was consummated, leaving him still with owner Dan Dougherty and trainer Billy Gowan.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer David Bell has had no choice but to take his time with Silent Star.
On Saturday, Silent Star will look to fulfill her initial promise when she goes postward in the $125,000 La Prevoyante Stakes, a one-mile turf race for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.
Silent Star, who races for the C.E.C. Farms of Eugene George, started three times at 2, graduating over five furlongs in her second start and then finishing third in the restricted Nandi Stakes at six furlongs.
