ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Eddie Castro is expected to return to race-riding Wednesday at Belmont Park after being removed from all six of his mounts Sunday by the stewards for reasons that are still not totally clear.
Initially, a spokesman for the New York State Racing and Wagering Board said that Castro failed a Breathalyzer test. That would have meant that Castro would have had a blood alcohol level of at least .05 percent.
ELMONT, N.Y. - October is only half over, and it’s already been quite good to trainer Chad Brown.
Brown has won 7 of 28 starts in October with five of those wins being stakes. And while winning Sunday’s $80,000 Classy Mirage Stakes with Kid Kate may not be like winning Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland with Dayatthespa, it was rewarding nonetheless.
Kid Kate, a 5-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, has won stakes every year since she was 2.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When you have a 20-horse stable, winning one graded stakes race is a good day. Winning two is huge.
“It was a big day,” trainer Jimmy Toner said. “I was really excited.”
On Saturday, Toner won the Grade 3, $150,000 Athenia Stakes at Belmont with La Cloche, a half-sister to Toner’s Grade 1-winning mare Winter Memories, whom he had to retire earlier this summer.
A few hours later, Toner watched on television as Two Months Rent rallied through the rain to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Hawthorne Derby by a head at 26-1.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Equipped with a new set of bar shoes to help deal with his chronic foot issues, two-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out breezed a half-mile in 48.88 seconds Monday morning at Belmont Park as he works toward a start in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.
[BREEDERS' CUP 2012: DRF top 10 lists, video replays, latest news]
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Joshua Tree and Siyouma, winners of the Grade 1 Canadian International and Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes here at Woodbine on Sunday, will be returning to England on Thursday and will not be back in North America this season.
The 5-year-old Joshua Tree had earned a berth in Santa Anita’s $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf for his victory in the Canadian International while Siyouma had punched her ticket to the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf with her E.P. Taylor tally.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Unbridled Ocean, an expensive yearling purchase in 2009 who has run well when healthy, makes his return to the races in a $72,000 second-level allowance race that serves as Wednesday’s feature at Belmont Park.
The race, one of six carded for the grass, is scheduled for seven furlongs on the Widener turf and drew a field of 10.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Despite two fewer racing days, the total all-sources live mutuel handle of $32,557,605 at the 2012 Hastings meet that concluded Sunday was up by 5 percent compared to last year’s total of $30,888,829. The daily average for the 67-day meet was 485,934, an increase of 8.5 percent over last year’s average for the 69-day meet of $447,664.
The ontrack live handle was virtually unchanged: $9,848,328 this year compared to $9,843,196 in 2011.
Raj Mutti, general manager at Hastings, was pleased with the solid numbers.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Casa Loma, who was scratched from last Saturday’s Ruling Angel Stakes, has surfaced in Wednesday’s Woodbine feature, a second-level optional $60,000 claimer.
Casa Loma, a 3-year-old trained by Bob Tiller, has been stakes-placed four times this year, but she hasn’t won since her 2-year-old campaign. She ran second to reigning champion 2-year-old filly Tu Endie Wei when she came off the bench in six-furlong Star Shoot on April 14, and was third two weeks later in the seven-furlong Fury.
Total mutuel handle at the 2012 Northlands Park meet that concluded Saturday was up by 12.5 percent compared to last year.
The total amount wagered over the 81-day meet was $18,705,099, a $1,662,384 increase over the $16,626,450 wagered over the same number of days in 2011. The daily average was $230,927, compared last year’s average of $205,624.
The ontrack numbers were down, however. This year $6,834,733 was wagered at Northlands compared to $7,075,028 in 2011, a 3.4 percent decrease.
Management at Northlands were pleased with how the meet went.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has confirmed Grade 1 winner Killer Graces and her stablemate Via Villaggio for the richest race remaining on the Keeneland fall stakes schedule, the Grade 2, $250,000 Raven Run Stakes on Saturday.
