DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar officials are projecting a retroactive purse payment after the conclusion of the current meeting Sept. 4 based on strong handle figures for the first four weeks of the season.
AUBURN, Wash. – Stikine Slough, the easiest of winners in his last start, and Noosito, a full brother to an Emerald Downs legend, headline Saturday’s feature race, the $50,000 WTBOA Lads Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings at 6 1/2 furlongs. First post for the 10-race card is 2 p.m. Pacific.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington loves all things international. Its Hanshin Cup has a sister race of the same name in Japan. The track’s scenic property is ringed by grapevines, French-style. Even the very word “International” has crept back into Arlington’s official moniker.
A year ago, Alternation and Prayer for Relief circled the Remington Park racetrack in unison in the Governor’s Cup before finishing a nose apart in a thrilling edition of the meet’s most important race for older horses. The pair is back for Saturday night’s renewal, one in which Prayer for Relief will be a strong favorite to turn the tables on Alternation.
Los Alamitos will ask the California Horse Racing Board at its meeting next Thursday for as many as three weeks of Thoroughbred racing next summer, and also plans to expand its racetrack, a track official said Wednesday.
The plan revives a project shelved in the spring by the Orange County, Calif., track, and will include a provisionally allocated two-week Thoroughbred meeting in December 2014 which follows the fall meeting at Del Mar and precedes the start of the Santa Anita winter meeting.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Kitten’s Dumplings may not be the most composed filly in the paddock prior to Saturday’s $300,000 Del Mar Oaks.
“She’ll be washed out and her head will go up and down,” trainer Mike Maker said. “That’s just her. She’s a lot better than she was when she was younger.”
The six-furlong distance of the $100,000 Paseana Stakes for fillies and mares at Gulfstream Park on Saturday seems less than optimum for My Pal Chrisy at this stage of her career. But she is the class of the field with earnings approaching $500,000 and should start as a strong favorite against four others, including recent Calder stakes winner Capitalism At Risk.
My Pal Chrisy is a three-time stakes winner who has won 8 of 38 career starts and $471,168. Her wins have been divided equally between sprints and routes, but her last two victories have come in two-turn races at Calder.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes, a 1 1/2-mile turf race that is the final leg of the Triple Crown for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, often becomes an anticlimax to the series.
Such is the case this year, as Midnight Aria is on the farm following his taxing effort here in the 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate and Uncaptured returned to Churchill Downs with an eye toward fall stakes in Philadelphia after confirming his preference for dirt with a victory in the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Tom Proctor doesn’t worry much, or at least he says he doesn’t. With a critical race on the horizon for his stable star, Marketing Mix, Proctor was on the Arlington Park apron one morning this week wanting to talk about anything except the Beverly D. Stakes on Saturday.
“My work’s pretty much all done,” shrugged Proctor, who trains the Beverly D. favorite for Glen Hill Farm. “It’s all about the horse anyway.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Overheard returns from a layoff fresh and ready for Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Ontario Colleen Stakes at Woodbine. The one-mile turf route for 3-year-old fillies also has lured the Grade 3 winner Coffee Clique among its nine entrants.
Overheard has hit the board in all seven of her outings, including a record of 2-1-1 from 4 starts on the grass. She evolved into a useful miler in the spring, when she ran second in the Grade 3 Appalachian at Keeneland, before ending up third in the Grade 3 Selene here on Polytrack.
