SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is seeking a repeat in Sunday’s $50,000 Cavonnier Juvenile Stakes at the Sonoma County Fair and will be using the same strategy as last year.
The Hollendorfer-trained Zeewat won his debut at the fair and then came back to win the six-furlong Cavonnier last year. This year, Hollendorfer has Hirschy, who scored an impressive win in his Aug. 1 debut and comes back 10 days later seeking a stakes win.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Alec Fehr, the owner and trainer of Ultimate Destiny, has appealed the decision by the stewards to declare his gelding a non-starter in last Saturday’s Grade 3, $159,300 Seagram Cup.
The stewards ruled that Ulitmate Destiny’s starting stall opened a fraction of a second before the others, giving him an unfair advantage.
Ultimate Destiny, in fact, did not benefit from the situation, as he broke fifth in the field of eight and went on to finish a strong second under jockey Todd Kabel.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The imposing Go Greeley should be favored in Sunday’s $150,000 Vandal Stakes at Woodbine. The six-furlong sprint for Ontario-bred 2-year-olds has brought together an excellent field that also includes the well-regarded Matador and the Chicago shipper Heart to Heart.
After graduating at first asking May 19, Go Greeley was beaten a nose after an awkward trip from post 1 in the July 7 Clarendon Stakes. He subsequently took the six-furlong Colin Stakes, after setting rapid fractions under Eurico Rosa Da Silva.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Campbell Wilson, age 36, has been around horses since the age of 10, when he first learned to ride at the White Oaks Academy in Chippewa, Ontario.
Even before that time, Wilson remembers with some clarity his father taking him to the races at Fort Erie, and it was then and there that he marveled over and fell in love with Thoroughbred horses.
As a teenager, Wilson spent some time on a stud farm in Lexington, Ky.
“My time in the Bluegrass state was a life turning point,” said Wilson.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 3-year-old division lost an intriguing member Friday when the connections of Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby who has been battling a foot injury this summer, said he would not race again this year.
Owner Rick Porter said there were “no meaningful races” for Normandy Invasion to run in this year, and he will focus on a 2014 campaign.
Porter said Normandy Invasion was sent to Kentucky earlier this week, first to get checked out at the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and then to get turned out at WinStar Farm.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Considering she had just won a division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park - beating four of the same horses she was facing Thursday - Frosty Bay was pretty cold on the tote board for the $100,000 Statue of Liberty division of the stallion stakes.
Frosty Bay, 7-1, warmed the hearts of her backers, however, when, under Javier Castellano, she rallied down the center of a rain-moistened inner turf course to win the Statue of Liberty by two lengths over Image of Noon, the same filly she beat by one length in June.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Transparent, who finished first but was disqualified to fifth in the Curlin Stakes on July 26, worked four furlongs in 48.87 seconds Thursday in preparation for the Travers Stakes here Aug. 24.
He went his first quarter in 24.06 and his second quarter in 24.81 while switching leads nearing the wire a time or two.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Perhaps the biggest surprise at Thursday’s post-position draw for Sunday’s Grade 2 Saratoga Special was the addition of the New York-bred Ogermeister to the lineup. Ogermeister, a runaway winner of his career debut at Belmont, was not nominated for the Special and had to be supplemented into the race by trainer Wesley Ward at a cost of $4,000. The purse for the Special is $200,000.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Garrett Gomez will resume riding on Saturday after receiving doctor’s clearance following recent treatment for alcoholism.
Gomez’s doctors told California Horse Racing Board officials on Thursday that Gomez was fit to resume riding, according to steward Tom Ward. In recent days, Gomez has undergone counseling for substance abuse and mental health issues with a psychiatrist in Newport Beach, Calif.
