LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If there are no cinches in horse racing, that might be doubly true for the Clark Handicap. The Churchill Downs fall showcase has made a tradition of large and wide-open fields in recent years, and the 138th running Friday is no exception.
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DRF Past Performances
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The two-year saga that took Shackleford from unknown white-blazed chestnut into the racing stratosphere is nearly at an end. The colt won a seven-furlong maiden race at Churchill Downs at 25-1 on Nov. 27, 2010, and some $2.8 million later, he will make the final start of an illustrious career Friday as the highweight and likely favorite in the Churchill fall showcase, the Grade 1 Clark Handicap.
Wed, 11/21/2012 - 14:08
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Willet won last month’s Iroquois Stakes at Belmont Park, it was the first stakes win for trainer Jimmy Iselin in nearly 20 years.
Friday, Willet will seek to give the 69-year-old Iselin his first graded win in 22 years when she starts against four rivals in the Grade 2, $200,000 Go for Wand Handicap at Aqueduct. The Go for Wand Handicap, a one-turn mile race, goes as the ninth of 10 races on a Black Friday card that begins at noon Eastern.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Frostad initially planned to run Chokurei in Saturday’s Grade 3 Bessarabian, a $150,000 race for fillies and mares.
But Frostad called an audible this week, electing to reserve Chokurei for a stakes appearance early in the Gulfstream meeting and supplementing Stars to Shine to the Grade 3, seven-furlong Bessarabian.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The steady Quaesitor will test his skills at 1 1/2 miles on the Polytrack Friday at Woodbine in the $89,400 allowance prep for the Grade 3 Valedictory Stakes.
Quaesitor got a late start to his season. After graduating in his seasonal bow June 30, he competed in the second and third legs of the Canadian Triple Crown. The son of Friends Lake was a wide fourth in the Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie and a commendable third in the 12-furlong Breeders’ Stakes here on the grass.
Jockey tactics and the usual smattering of racing luck will likely determine the outcome of Friday’s Grade 3 All American at Golden Gate Fields.
All seven runners entered in the 1 1/16-mile race on the Tapeta main track have earned black type. Four, including 7-5 morning-line favorite Gladding, are multiple stakes winners. Gladding and Hudson Landing are graded stakes winners and Positive Response also would be had he not been disqualified from his win in last spring’s Grade 3 Berkeley. Control Seeker has won two stakes during his current three-race winning streak.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Perhaps it is fitting that Ultimate Eagle drew the rail for Friday’s $250,000 Citation Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park.
There is no suspense regarding race tactics for the speedy 4-year-old.
Ultimate Eagle will take his typical place at the front, a target for the other seven runners, but also a horse capable of stealing the Grade 2 race over 1 1/16 miles on turf.
“You know he’s going to jump out of there,” trainer Mike Pender said.
“He trains like he wants to get it on.”
Trainer Chad Brown has a solid group of 2-year-old turf horses, having won four stakes as well as running second and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
But even with colts Noble Tune and Balance the Books and the filly Watsdachances taking it easy in south Florida, Brown looks to have a strong pair of 2-year-old fillies for Thursday’s $80,000 Lie Low Stakes with Heart of New York and Flashy Gal.
Questing, who was pulled up in the early stages of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, had a chip removed from a hind ankle, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Tuesday.
McLaughlin, who did not think the chip was a factor in Questing’s non-effort in the Ladies’ Classic, said Questing will race as a 4-year-old in 2013.