DEL MAR, Calif. – Colts like Gervinho are the reason why Del Mar will have two $250,000 divisions of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sunday.
There is a larger-than-normal group of 3-year-old turf horses in Southern California this year as well as several shippers expected in for the race, resulting in the racing office deciding to split the track’s top race for 3-year-olds.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Each of the three primary contenders in Saturday’s Washington Park Handicap bears a different relationship to Arlington’s Polytrack: Mister Marti Gras likes it, Willcox Inn probably likes it, and Agent Di Nozzo is just meeting it for the first time.
Those three comprise half the field – the better half, by far – in the Grade 3, $150,000 Washington Park, a 1 1/8-mile main-track race for older horses. Mister Marti Gras and Willcox Inn are the co-highweights at 122 pounds.
Awesome Belle and Angelica Zapata will each be shooting for a seventh career stakes win Saturday when they meet in the $100,000 Wasted Tears at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares also drew Frolic’s Revenge, a five-time stakes winner, and Team, who has moved into the region from New York.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Clubhouse Ride has had more blood tests than workouts in the last six weeks.
Since finishing sixth in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 27 and emerging from the race with elevated white and red blood counts, Clubhouse Ride has been nursed back to health by trainer Craig Lewis and his team.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The first Wednesday-evening yearling sales stakes program had something for everyone – and a little bit more for trainer John Ross, who captured the two 6 1/2-furlong, $200,000 stakes for juveniles with Go Greeley and Lexie Lou.
Go Greeley prevailed by a nose in the Simcoe Stakes for 2-year-old males, avenging his lone defeat by running down Spin the King and giving jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva his third stakes winner of the night.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Awesome Baby may have tipped only some of her ability when she scored a convincing win in a maiden race over 5 1/2 furlongs Aug. 4.
“She’s fast,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She ran a big race.”
COLUMBUS, Neb. – A stakes doubleheader highlights the final Saturday of the Columbus meet with divisions of the $15,000 Columbus Breeders’ Special going six furlongs offered for 3-year-old Nebraska-bred fillies and for colts and geldings.
Saturday’s post time has been moved up to 2 p.m. as the Nebraska Cornhuskers open the football season that evening against Wyoming. The meet closes out a 16-day run on Labor Day with post time at 2 p.m.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In another September, horsemen and fans in Kentucky would be looking ahead this week to the opening of the Turfway Park fall meet. The northern Kentucky track was a vibrant place in its heyday. Ontrack fans enjoyed warm evenings outdoors, and the Kentucky Cup series occupied a prominent spot on the national calendar.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Ju Ju Eyeballs could be vulnerable in the Miss Woodford Stakes when she lays a five-race winning streak on the line.
The Miss Woodford at six furlongs on the main track and the Twin Lights, 1 1/8 miles on the turf, are the $60,000 features for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
The unusual name comes from a Beatles’ lyric in the song “Come Together”: “Here come old flattop. He come grooving up slowly. He got juju eyeball.”
Her groove has been anything but slow since the claim by Jason Servis for $15,000 in December at Gulfstream Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Two-time champion Roxy Gap makes her second start off an extended layoff at Woodbine on Saturday, when she squares off against a sharp Nikkis Smartypants over seven furlongs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Seaway Stakes.
Roxy Gap won Sovereign Awards as Canada’s champion female sprinter and champion older female in 2012, during which she won 3 of 9 starts and $523,173. She beat a quality field in the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes, but her best effort may have come in the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes, in which she ran second to Marketing Mix over soft turf.
