ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Going by the company she’s been keeping, the California shipper Mechaya should be formidable in Sunday’s $150,000 Glorious Song Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
Mechaya is based with trainer John Sadler at Santa Anita, where she was a distant second in an Oct. 4 allowance to Beholder, who took the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies there Nov. 2.
Colonial Downs in Virginia will race seven fewer live racing days next year and cut the purses for its two biggest stakes in an effort to boost average purse size during the 25-day meeting, the track said on Thursday.
The track received approval for the meet on Wednesday from the Virginia Racing Commission. The meet will begin on June 8 and run through July 13, with live racing Wednesday through Sunday. Racing Wednesday through Saturday will be conducted with a 6 p.m. first post, while racing on Sunday will begin at 12:55 p.m.
Pyc Kant Katch Me was the fastest qualifier for a $1 million race back in May, but was a late scratch in the finale because of an unfortunate mishap in the gate. Saturday night, he will get a second shot at seven figures in the Grade 1, $1 million Texas Classic Futurity for Quarter Horses at Lone Star Park.
“He deserves a big one,” said Judd Kearl, who trains the undefeated Pyc Kant Katch Me for JNB Enterprises.
STICKNEY, Ill. - For years Carlos Silva was the go-to rider for the renowned trainer Richard Hazelton, and when Hazelton finally left training for good two summers ago at Arlington Park, Silva, who had retired from riding, was basically running the shed row. Silva took out his own trainer's license and has made a go of things the last two seasons thanks to backing from the Asiel Stable of Dr. Richard Radke, a longtime Hazelton owner.
A week after winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic aboard Fort Larned, jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. will be at Retama Park near San Antonio on Saturday night to ride in the meet’s two most important stakes, the $75,000 El Joven and the $75,000 La Senorita.
“He had given us the call before he became big-time,” quipped trainer Michael Stidham, who will send out Every Way in the La Senorita.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Lumber Guy, who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last Saturday at Santa Anita, has remained in California with trainer Neil Drysdale and will be pointed to the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, owner Barry Schwartz said Thursday.
Schwartz and his wife, Sheryl, live in New York, but in recent years they have been spending more and more of their winters in Santa Barbara, Calif.
MIAMI – There are eight stakes races on Saturday’s Florida Million program for Florida-breds at Calder, none more competitive than the $150,000 Jack Dudley Sprint Handicap. The six-furlong dash brings together the fastest statebreds on the grounds in a field so evenly matched that selecting the favorite may prove as difficult a task as picking the winner.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There will be a lot of talk about the Cardinals – and the Cardinal – at Churchill Downs on Saturday. The first is an unbeaten college football team after nine games, and the second is a handicap with nine fillies and mares.
The undefeated University of Louisville squad will kick off their game at Syracuse at noon Eastern, which should give multi-tasking sports fans plenty of time to focus on the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap, the ninth of 10 Saturday races at Churchill. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern, with the Cardinal set for 4:37.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile typically kicks off the unofficial run to the Kentucky Derby six months later. Here at Betfair Hollywood Park, the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity in December is often a preview of coming attractions for the next spring, too, and the route to that race begins Saturday, with the $100,000 Real Quiet Stakes, in which seven late-developing 2-year-olds will try to step forward.
