Clever Performance has been consistent throughout a 15-race campaign while competing primarily in $5,000 starter allowance events. Tangled Sheets has spent the bulk of his 28-race career racing on Polytrack and turf.
Both have questions to answer as the prime contenders in Monday night’s featured eighth race at Mountaineer Racetrack. The $23,000 race, which drew a field of eight, is a second-level optional $20,000 claimer at 5 1/2 furlongs.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – So what if Eblouissante, the half-sister to Zenyatta, did not make her debut until Friday, well into November of her 3-year-old year?
It was worth the wait for owner-breeder Eric Kronfeld.
“It just validates John Shirreffs’s beliefs as a trainer,” Kronfeld said in the winner’s circle. “He wanted to do what it took to allow the filly to grow into herself.”
“What’s the point of racing in May? Let them develop.”
Brushed By a Star, purchased for $400,000 last week at the Keeneland November sale, will make her first start for new connections as the highweight in the Grade 2, $150,000 Falls City Handicap, the annual Thanksgiving feature.
Brushed By a Star, now trained by Eddie Kenneally, is being asked to shoulder 122 pounds in the 1 1/8-mile Falls City. Others likely to face her Thursday are Afleeting Lady, 119; Joyful Victory, 119; Arena Elvira, 118; Maristar, 114; and Aint She a Saint, 113.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Groupie Doll and Shackleford were both out for serious work Saturday morning at Churchill Downs when prepping for likely starts this coming weekend.
Both 4-year-olds went a half-mile over a fast and tight main track, with Groupie Doll going in 48.20 seconds just a few minutes before Shackleford went in 47.40. Their respective trainers said both are very likely to make their first starts since the Breeders’ Cup this weekend.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Living up to expectations, Eblouissante, a 3-year-old half-sister to the famous champion Zenyatta, won her first start at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday, comfortably beating seven other 3-year-old fillies in a maiden race over 1 1/16 miles.
While following the legacy of Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year who won 19 of 20 starts, is almost impossible to duplicate, Eblouissante won in a very promising style.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Two horses who fell seriously ill Wednesday at Hawthorne Race Course have tested positive for equine herpesvirus, while a horse in still another barn on the Hawthorne backstretch came down with symptoms consistent with the virulent neurologic strain of the virus.
Eighteen days had passed before the pair of horses in Barn E got sick Wednesday morning, and the report of another new case Friday confirms the virus, known as EHV-1, continues to circulate through Hawthorne’s equine population.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Awesome Gem, who won the 2010 Hollywood Gold Cup in a career that stretched from 2006 until his retirement earlier this year, will be paraded between races on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park.
A winner of 11 of 52 starts and $2,881,370, Awesome Gem was based at Hollywood Park for much of his career. Trained by Craig Dollase for West Point Thoroughbreds partnership, Awesome Gem is scheduled to appear on the track between the fourth and fifth races.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A funeral service will be held at noon on Sunday for Dr. Donald Fishman, a longtime veterinarian and fixture on the Ontario racing scene who died in Niagara General Hospital at age 78 on Thursday.
The service will be held at Steeles Memorial Chapel, 350 Steeles Avenue West, Toronto.
Harvey Swartz, a lawyer and horse owner who was a good friend of Fishman’s, said the colorful veterinarian will be sorely missed.
From the looks of the nomination sheets for the 2012 Claiming Crown races, horseplayers can expect big fields to abound opening day at Gulfstream Park.
A total of 232 nominations were received for the seven Claiming Crown races, no fewer than 26 horses in any one race. The two turf races on the program proved the most popular with 50 runners made eligible for the $125,000 Emerald and 40 fillies and mares for the $125,000 Tiara.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ultimate Eagle, a three-time stakes winner who was the beaten favorite in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, is set to return to racing in the $250,000 Citation Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday.
Owner B.J. Wright paid a $5,000 supplemental fee on Thursday to make the 4-year-old colt eligible for the Grade 2 Citation over 1 1/16 miles on turf.
