ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Left a Message stormed home through the stretch to notch her first stakes in the $100,200 Flaming Page on Wednesday night at Woodbine.
Left a Message ($3.60), based at Arlington Park with trainer Tom Proctor, raced toward the rear of the nine-horse field on the backstretch of the 12-furlong marathon. She loomed three wide into contention on the far turn and then hit the front early in the lane before going on to prevail by 3 1/4 lengths, in 2:27.65 over the firm turf.
Fair Grounds in New Orleans has canceled the first two dates of its Quarter Horse meet that was to open Friday and called for a mandatory evacuation of its stable area because of a storm system approaching the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters are projecting tropical weather could hit the New Orleans area by the end of the week. The track now plans to open its meet on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
Fair Grounds has about 1,000 horses in its stable area. The evacuation also applies to all stable workers. The decision to evacuate was announced at 5:30 p.m. Central on Wednesday.
Trainer Tom Albertrani will be represented in both stakes races on Friday’s 10-race program with outsider Love Stanza Chance in the Yaddo and Awesome Vision in the Saratoga Sunrise. But his best chance on the card could come in the sixth race when he sends out Jaipur winner Souper Speedy in a $90,000 allowance race to be decided at seven furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Dance With Fate, who beat 2-year-old maidens in his second lifetime start Sunday, will come back in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day Sept. 4, trainer Pete Eurton said.
Always well regarded, Dance With Fate disappointed in a troubled debut last month at Betfair Hollywood Park, but rebounded Sunday under Rafael Bejarano.
Wicked Courage will be seeking to win his 10th consecutive race when he starts in Saturday’s trials for the Grade 1, $2.8 million All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs. He is in the 10th race on a program of 10 trials.
Others set to start include champion Pj Chick in Black, who has overcome a shipping accident that forced her to scratch from last month’s Grade 1, $1 million Rainbow Derby. She goes in the fourth race Saturday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Tiz Flirtatious, who stormed home to win the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes on Sunday, will target the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, with a prep in the Rodeo Drive, both Grade 1, 1 1/4-mile grass races this fall at Santa Anita, according to trainer Marty Jones.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Turning into the stretch behind a wall of horses aboard favored Balance the Books in the $100,000 Stroll Stakes, jockey Javier Castellano had a decision to make: Go wide and make an outside run or try to find room along the rail.
After initially attempt to go outside, Castellano steered Balance the Books to the inside, got through on the rail, and outfinished Hardest Core to win the Stoll by a neck. It was 1 1/4 lengths back to Mills in third.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Endorsement, second in the Wickerr Stakes on turf on July 24, and Hawk’s Eyes, a group stakes winner in Brazil in 2012, are candidates for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 25.
Endorsement was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Arlington Million hopeful Indy Point in the Wickerr, his first start for trainer Hector Palma. Endorsement won the Grade 3 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park in 2012 when trained by Eoin Harty.
My Miss Aurelia, the juvenile filly champion of 2011 who is unraced since March, was shipped to Saratoga on Wednesday and will now be trained by Todd Pletcher. My Miss Aurelia, owned by Stonestreet Stable and George Bolton, previously had been trained by Steve Asmussen.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Hogy made his Saratoga debut a winning one, rallying from just off the pace of 6-5 favorite Great Mills for a 1 1/2-length victory in Wednesday’s $100,000 Troy Stakes.
The 5 1/2-furlong Troy was decided over a yielding turf course and, as a result, scratched down to only five starters.
Hogy shipped in from Arlington Park off a second-place finish in the Arlington Sprint. He was making his first start for trainer Wayne Catalano in the Troy.
