DEL MAR, Calif. – Last fall, when Paynter was battling laminitis and colitis, starting him in a race such as Saturday’s $200,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, seemed like a daydream gone astray.
“He had no shot of making it,” trainer Bob Baffert said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Sunday, trainer Richard Mandella has a leading contender with Jimmy Creed in the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes over six furlongs.
Jimmy Creed won two stakes at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, including the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes last December, but was last of eight after a poor start in the Grade 1 Triple Bend Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park on June 30.
Renee’s Passion should start as a strong favorite in the mile and 70-yard Colorado Thoroughbred Breeders Oaks at Arapahoe Park on Saturday, even though she has never raced at two turns. She is already a stakes winner over the local oval, she gets pedigree support for the race’s distance, and she owns the field’s best recent Beyer Speed Figures.
One day after Armando Lage claimed Catrageous for $25,000 at Hollywood Park on June 20, he decided to run her in Saturday’s $50,000 Wine Country Stakes at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa. Catrageous will have five 3-year-old filly rivals in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Going into the Belmont Stakes, Palace Malice was the hard-luck horse, winless in five starts as a 3-year-old, encountering trouble and bad luck at almost every turn.
Everything finally clicked in the Belmont as Palace Malice came home a decisive 3 1/4-length winner for Dogwood Stable and trainer Todd Pletcher.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Bob Tiller was not surprised that he saddled the winner of Wednesday’s $125,000 Deputy Minister Stakes, a seven-furlong race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds. But Tiller had sent out two horses for the race and expected to greet Langstaff, not Jade Dragon, in the winner’s circle.
Jade Dragon, ridden by Tyler Pizarro, had pressed the moderate pace of Canuspellpatience and made his move on the far turn en route to a one-length victory as the 5-1 third choice.
Horseplayers say they will take a full field with something like a 4-1 favorite any day of the week. That just happens to be Saturday, when the nominal feature at Ellis Park fits that very description.
The nine-race program at the western Kentucky track has a $33,500 second-level allowance as its richest race – and it just might be the best betting event on the card, too. Flattermejim, with Corey Lanerie riding for veteran trainer David Vance, is the 4-1 morning-line choice in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
If six allowances are superior to one stakes, then Saturday should be a good day at Arlington Park. With no major stakes to be run at the suburban Chicago track until the Arlington Million card on Aug. 17, the richest races until then will be the likes of what fans will have presented to them Saturday.
Title Contender will be searching for his first win of the year Saturday in Thistledown’s premier race, the Grade 3, $100,000 Ohio Derby. The 1 1/16-mile Ohio Derby drew a field of eight. None of the entrants has won more than two races.
Your First Moon was the champion 2-year-old filly and overall champion 2-year-old of 2001, a season in which she won the Governor’s Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos. A dozen years later, her foal Moonist can win the same race for 2-year-old Quarter Horses on Saturday.
Moonist was the second-fastest qualifier for the $388,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity in time trials July 13, running 350 yards in 17.38 seconds. The win left trainer John Cooper confident that Moonist, a gelding by Separatist, can win Saturday.
