Thu, 09/13/2012 - 15:33

Hastings: Second City in fine shape with next start uncertain

Four-Footed Fotos
If Second City stays at Hastings, his next start will be in the Premiers on Oct. 8.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Craig MacPherson reported that Second City came out of his win over Devil in Disguise in the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby last Sunday in excellent shape but wasn’t sure where Second City would make his next start.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 15:18

Calder: Foolish Pleasure brings together trio of recent stakes winners

Coady Photography
Sr. Quisqueyano won The Seacliff by 13 3/4 lengths.

MIAMI – Sr. Quisqueyano, D’nied Permission, and Itsmyluckyday, each of whom won stakes on last month’s Juvenile Showcase program, will all cross paths in Saturday’s $100,000 Foolish Pleasure Stakes at Calder. The mile-and-70-yard Foolish Pleasure is one of four stakes on a card that also includes the $100,000 Brave Raj for 2-year-old fillies, and both the $75,000 Needles and $75,000 Judy’s Red Shoes for 3-year-olds on the grass.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 15:14

Assiniboia Downs: Balooga Bull short price in the Gold Cup

Balooga Bull, who has stamped himself as the best horse at Assiniboia Downs, will be looking to wind up his sophomore campaign on a high note when he faces eight rivals in Saturday’s Gold Cup.

The $50,000 Gold Cup, a 1 1/8-mile race which is the premier local test for 3-year-olds and upward, will go as the last of eight races on a program that also includes the $50,000 Winnipeg Futurity for 2-year-olds.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 14:59

Arlington: European imports figure prominently in Pucker Up

Four-Footed Fotos
Leading Astray (right) and Freedom Reigns, separated by a nose in last month's Hatoof, are rematched in the Pucker Up.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s not like North American racing fans require regular reminders concerning the superiority of European grass horses, but Arlington Million Day provided one anyway. Euros won three of Million Day’s four major races, and with better luck Million runner-up Afsare might have made it a clean overseas sweep. A month later the landscape looks the same, with two European imports among the favorites Saturday in the Grade 3, $175,000 Pucker Up Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 14:52

Laurel Park: Charged Cotton stretches out, steps up in All Brandy Stakes

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Baltimore Belle will try to end an 0-for-5 skid in 2012 in Saturday's $100,000 All Brandy Stakes at Laurel Park.

The 3-year-old filly Charged Cotton successfully handled a stretch out from 5 1/2 furlongs to a mile last month. Now, she will attempt to run an additional furlong while stepping up to stakes company.

Charged Cotton also will be moving into Maryland-bred company for the first time Saturday in the $100,000 All Brandy Stakes, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the turf course at Laurel Park. She is cross-entered in Saturday’s $50,000 Christiana for 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 14:44

Woodbine: Are You Kidding Me tops competitive Summer Stakes field

Michael Burns
Are You Kidding Me will step up to stakes company in the Grade 2 Summer after winning an allowance race on Aug. 25.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Are You Kidding Me, who won the allowance prep for the Summer Stakes over a mediocre group, will jump up to Grade 2 stakes company Saturday at Woodbine in the $250,000 Summer. The one-mile grass race for 2-year-olds is a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In event, meaning the winner receives a paid trip to the BC Juvenile Turf in November at Santa Anita.

Saturday’s card also includes the $250,000 Natalma, a Win and You’re In for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 14:24

Woodbine Mile: Wise Dan 6-5 favorite in field of nine

Barbara D. Livingston
Wise Dan can give his trainer, Charlie Lopresti, a repeat win in the Woodbine Mile. Lopresti won the race last year with Turallure.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Turallure won last year’s Grade 1 Woodbine Mile for trainer Charlie Lopresti at odds of 6-1.

But when Wise Dan goes postward for Lopresti in this year’s $1 million Woodbine Mile on Sunday it will be at a considerably lower price, based on his dominant last-out victory in Saratoga’s Grade 2 Fourstardave over one mile of yielding going.

Post positions for the Woodbine Mile were announced here Thursday at a ceremonial draw in the trackside tent.

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 14:14

Kentucky Downs: Rahystrada back to defend his title in Kentucky Turf Cup

Four-Footed Fotos
Rahystrada wins the Arlington Handicap. For the second year in a row he will break from post 1 in the Arlington Million.

Four weeks after being good enough to salvage a dead heat for third in the Arlington Million, Rahystrada will be back in Franklin, Ky., to defend his title in the premier race of the Kentucky Downs meet, the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup.

All signs point to him being good enough to win again.

“I think he’s obviously as good as he was last year,” said Scooter Hughes, who trains 8-year-old Rahystrada for Robert Courtney Jr. “He hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down or not wanting to do it.”

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 14:10

Kentucky Downs: Three new stakes boost Turf Cup card

David Owens/Equi-Photo
Clare Skies Ahead, trained by Flint Stites, comes off a victory going 1 3/8 miles in a Monmouth Park turf race.

They’re all new, and they’re all pretty good. Three $75,000 stakes are on the Saturday undercard at Kentucky Downs leading into the annual showcase race, the Kentucky Turf Cup, and each looks like a race worth renewing in future years at the turf-only track in Franklin, Ky.

Two of those races are for 2-year-olds, essentially filling a spot on the Kentucky racing calendar once occupied by Kentucky Cup events at Turfway Park, while the other is a pseudo-counterpart to the Turf Cup for fillies and mares.

Here is a rundown of those supporting events:

Thu, 09/13/2012 - 13:34

Parx Racing: Stormy Lord, Cantonic figure to battle start to finish in PTHA President's Cup

Alyssa Spakowski/Equi-Photo
Stormy Lord will try to defend his 2011 President's Cup title.

Stormy Lord and Cantonic, who are a combined 3 for 3 over the turf course at Parx Racing, could go head to head from gate to wire when they clash in Saturday’s $250,000 Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President’s Cup.

The 5-year-old Stormy Lord, who shipped in from Woodbine to upset last year’s President’s Cup at 9-1, figures to be a far shorter price when he defends his title in the 1 1/8-mile turf race. He is dropping in class and cutting back in distrance off a runner-up effort, beaten three-quarters of the length, in the Grade 2 Sky Classic at 1 1/4 miles.