A few minutes after dismounting Smokin Glock following a second-place finish in the Sun Power Stakes on Nov. 10 at Hawthorne, jockey Cisco Torres made some interesting remarks. Smokin Glock still was carrying more than his ideal amount of flesh, Torres said, and would benefit from the start. And he would be run better in a future two-turn race than he had in the six-furlong Sun Power.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s been more than seven years since trainer Dale Romans made his first journey to Dubai, an adventure that ended with Roses in May’s victory in the 2005 World Cup. Now, Romans is planning a return trip to the Middle East, this time with two potential major players on Dubai World Cup Day – Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Little Mike and three-time Grade 1 winner Dullahan.
There’s no free square anymore on Louisiana Champions Day – at least not in the $150,000 Classic. For four years, that was Star Guitar’s race, but with Star Guitar retired to the breeding shed, this year’s Classic is up for grabs.
The Classic goes as race 11 on a 13-race program for Louisiana-breds. Three Quarter Horse stakes start the card, with a pair of maiden races mixed in with the eight Thoroughbred stakes, all of which offer $100,000 purses save the one and one-eighth mile Classic.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though money earned in graded stakes is no longer a criteria in determining the field for the Kentucky Derby, the New York Racing Association will offer 3-year-olds a rich, graded opportunity each of the first four months of 2013 leading up to the Run for the Roses.
The Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome, which the last two years has been run in April, will now be run Jan. 5, replacing the ungraded, $100,000 Count Fleet Stakes, which will not be run in 2013. The Jerome will be run at a mile and 70 yards over the inner track.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Norm McKnight has been holding a hot hand here at Woodbine recently, with five wins from the last nine horses he sent to the post.
On Sunday, McKnight will be looking to apply some of that sizzle to a stakes with Aunt Els in the 1 1/16-mile Ontario Lassie for Ontario-bred 2-year-old fillies.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Gabriel Charles, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Preview Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, may join the field for the $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Betfair Hollywood Park on Dec. 15, pending a workout this Saturday.
Trainer Jeff Mullins said on Thursday that Gabriel Charles will work on Hollywood Park’s synthetic track to judge how the colt handles the surface.
“We want to get a work in him,” Mullins said. “If he works well, we might try it.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The only blemish on Executiveprivilege’s six-race campaign is a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
The loss still stings Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, largely because it may cost Executiveprivilege the championship as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2012.
“She could be undefeated,” he said earlier this week.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There is no stakes Saturday at Woodbine, and the 10-race card includes just one allowance, the eighth, of the first-level variety. The 1 1/16-mile event could be the coming out party for the well-bred 3-year-old filly Androeah.
Androeah was a minor player in her first two outings last August. She subsequently changed trainers after a sale, and Josie Carroll sent her out on Lasix to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden special for Hill n Dale Equine Holdings Inc. following a layoff Oct. 19.
Two years ago when Golden Gate Fields unveiled a series of races for 2- and 3-year-olds, trainer Billy Morey bought into the program, purchasing Positive Response specifically to run in the series.
This year, he’s doubling down in Saturday’s $75,000 Gold Rush at one mile, running My Best Bet and Rush In.
My Best Bet was privately purchased earlier this year. The Best of the Rest ridgling has won both of his starts at Golden Gate Fields and also finished third in the six-furlong Cavonnier at Santa Rosa and the one-mile Charlie Palmer at Fresno.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Having recently retired Stay Thirsty, Mission Impazible, and Rule, trainer Todd Pletcher has a void in his older male division.
Perhaps San Pablo can help fill it.
A winner of 8 of 14 career starts, including the Grade 3 Iselin Stakes at Monmouth in August, San Pablo appears a hard-to-beat favorite in Saturday’s $75,000 Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct. A field of six was entered for the Queens County, run at 1 1/8 miles over the main track, including Gallant Fields who finished third in an allowance race here Thursday for trainer Richard Dutrow Jr.
