LEXINGTON, Ky. – Aruna will start from post 3 with Ramon Dominguez aboard in defending her title against 12 other fillies and mares in the Grade 1, $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes, which will be run Sunday for the 57th time at Keeneland.
[bc_video_id:264536:]Last week, female turf stayers had their moment in the spotlight, competing in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont and Grade 1 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita, both at 1 1/4 miles. This Saturday, the female turf milers get their due, this time at Keeneland with the running of the Grade 1, $350,000 First Lady.
A well-timed shopping trip for a pair of cowboy boots put the 2-year-old Far Niente in the stable of trainer John Wells last year.
Last year, Far Niente was bought back at the Heritage Place Yearling Sale in Oklahoma City. A few days later, while on a shopping trip, Wells was approached by a woman connected with the yearling.
“She asked if I still wanted him,” Wells recalled recently. “I was definitely still interested.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Although summer was a bust for Scherer Magic, autumn still holds promise for the 2-year-old sprinter.
A return to form in the $100,000 Tim Conway Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita would re-establish Scherer Magic as a leading candidate for a $500,000 Breeders’ Cup race Nov. 2 on the same track, at the same six-furlong distance.
“We’re looking at the Juvenile Sprint,” trainer John Sadler said, which might have seemed ambitious after an even-money debacle in August at Del Mar.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2012 campaign of the reigning sprint champion Amazombie has been built around two autumn races – Saturday’s $250,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 3.
He won the same two races last year, when the Breeders’ Cup was held at Churchill Downs, and is prepared for another attempt in coming weeks.
They are races that co-owner and trainer Bill Spawr expects to win.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Awesome Fire fizzled when cutting back to 1 1/16 miles of Polytrack for the Algoma Stakes here at Woodbine on Sept. 3.
As the strong second choice in the Algoma, a yearling sales stakes for fillies and mares, Awesome Fire never threatened while ending 7 1/4 lengths back as the trailer in the field of five.
“She got plagued again with a paceless race,” said Martha Gonzalez, wife and assistant to Awesome Fire’s trainer, Nick Gonzalez. “Every time we cut her back they go a half in 49, and she’s too far out of it.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – The uncertainty over how several of the top contenders will handle soft turf adds intrigue to an already interesting handicapping puzzle that is Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park.
Dullahan, a three-time Grade 1 winner over synthetic surfaces, was installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite for the Jamaica, a race restricted to 3-year-olds and scheduled for 1 1/8 miles over the inner turf course.
When the board of trustees of the Keeneland Association selected Bill Thomason to be the seventh president in the 76-year history of the track and auction house, it was a recognition of the two years of work that he had done righting Keeneland after its sales revenue dropped by half during the recession that began in 2008. Thomason, 57, was hired in 2010 as chief financial officer, and he immediately set in motion a process to evaluate spending in every aspect of Keeneland’s operations.
Trainer Todd Pletcher is holding the trump card for Saturday’s $75,000 Dover Stakes at Delaware Park. The only question is whether he plans to use it.
Among the 10 2-year-olds entered in the mile and 70-yard Dover, the Pletcher-trained Micromanage is by far the fastest horse. Micromanage cruised to a five-length victory and earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure in a seven-furlong maiden race a month ago at Saratoga. The sixth-place finisher came back to win a maiden race on turf at Delaware with an 80 Beyer.
Grace Hall has been given a clean bill of health by trainer Tony Dutrow and will try to regain her form of old in the Grade 2, $200,000 Indiana Oaks on Saturday at Hoosier Park.
In her last out Aug. 18, Grace Hall finished far back in the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga. After the race, mucus was discovered in the 3-year-old filly’s lungs.
“It has been nearly seven weeks,” Dutrow said “She is doing good and is as healthy as ever.”
