ELMONT, N.Y. – The connections of Better Lucky are hoping there’s some truth to the adage about good things coming to those who wait as their 4-year-old filly makes her first start in three months in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Noble Damsel Stakes at Belmont Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Stakes fields of modest size, unfortunately, were the main order of the day Thursday, with six entered in Sunday’s Woodbine Mile, seven in the Northern Dancer, and six in the Ontario Derby. But the Canadian Stakes had fared better when the entry box closed Thursday, as a field of nine fillies and mares was unveiled for the Grade 2, $300,000 turf race at 1 1/8 miles.
Singling a couple of Greg Tracy-trained standouts might be the way to play the final pick three at Northlands Park on Saturday.
Tracy has an excellent chance of winning a $35,000 optional claiming race for 3-year-olds with Proud Victor in the seventh race. Claresmiezie figures to be favored to win a $35,000 optional claiming race for fillies and mares in the eighth. Both races will be contested over 6 1/2 furlongs. Gabe’s Pride looks like the logical favorite in the ninth but he’s vulnerable and anyone playing the pick three should consider going deep in the final leg.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Bear Stable, trainer Reade Baker, and jockey Jim McAleney combined to take the 2005 Summer Stakes with Bear’s Kid, and they will team up again in the Grade 2 race Saturday at Woodbine with a promising son of Bear’s Kid, Asserting Bear.
The $200,000 Summer, a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re in qualifier for the Juvenile Turf, drew 10 2-year-olds who will negotiate a mile on the grass. Two of the Summer entrants, supplements My Conquestadory and Spanish Flower, were cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 2 Natalma for 2-year-old fillies.
A tribute to retired jockey Ramon Dominguez, a book signing by Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, and a 12-race card featuring six stakes for Thoroughbreds and one for Arabians highlight the Owners’ Day program Saturday at Delaware Park.
Dominguez, 36, was the track’s leading rider five times when he rode regularly at Delaware from 1998 through 2008. Fans in attendance will be given a commemorative 8-by-10 photo of Dominguez and have the opportunity to purchase a limited edition bobblehead doll with proceeds benefiting the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s leading trainer, Mark Casse, has won the Grade 2 Natalma Stakes four times and will try to win it for the third year in a row Saturday with the quartet of Appreciating, Madly Truly, My Conquestadory, and Spring Likeacobra. A one-mile turf route for 2-year-old fillies, the $200,000 Natalma is a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In qualifier for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Florent Geroux had ridden Solitary Ranger to victory in the Arlington-Washington Futurity about two hours earlier, but already he was looking ahead last Saturday evening to piloting another Wayne Catalano-trained stakes runner at Arlington. I’m Already Sexy had worked under Geroux that morning on the Arlington grass course, and had worked well enough to give Geroux very positive thoughts about the Grade 3, $150,000 Pucker Up Stakes here Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer George Weaver and jockey Joe Rocco Jr. certainly had a fun summer at Saratoga, and they hope the fun continues Saturday at Belmont Park when they team up with Summer of Fun in a terrific renewal of the Grade 1, $500,000 Garden City Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.
Weaver won nine races at the Spa, and Rocco, in his first summer riding full time there, had 15 winners, including two stakes wins for Weaver. One of those came aboard Summer of Fun, when she rallied five wide in the stretch to win the Auntie Mame Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths.
Dan Peitz is well aware he can still run Najjaar in a second-level allowance for a purse of about $50,000. Or he could run him at Kentucky Downs for a $400,000 purse as one of the likely favorites.
That lucrative window of opportunity will present itself Saturday to Peitz and his main client, Shadwell Stable, in the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup, the annual marquee race at turf-only Kentucky Downs in south-central Kentucky.
