VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Thirteen 3-year-olds were entered for the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby on Wednesday morning. Only 12 will be allowed to run in the 1 1/8-mile feature that headlines a 10-race card that includes five other stakes races at Hastings on Sunday.
The Troy Taylor-trained and Glen Todd-owned entry of Taylors Deal, Hoist, and Devil in Disguise will be favored in the race.
Two $50,000 turf stakes scheduled for this coming weekend at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course have been rescheduled for the weekend of Sept. 14-15 because of heavy rainfall in central Pennsylvania the past several days.
The $50,000 Alison McClay Stakes for 3-year-old fillies will now be contested on Friday, Sept. 14. The inaugural running of the $50,000 Thomas Clifton for 3-year-olds has been reset for Saturday, Sept. 15.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Corey Nakatani, who aggravated a shoulder injury when pulling up an injured horse on Monday, took off his mounts on closing day Wednesday at Del Mar after working horses that morning.
“He’s better, but he’s not 100 percent, and he didn’t think he’d be doing his horses justice today,” his agent, Brian Beach, said Wednesday morning. “He thinks it’s best to let it cool down. He was going to ride on Saturday at Fairplex, but he’s going to take that day off, too, so the next day he’ll ride is on Sept. 15 at Belmont Park.”
Vital Sign and Royal Grand will appreciate the easier company they will be facing when they run in a second-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park on Friday. The six-furlong sprint drew six horses and goes as race 7 on an eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Rousing Sermon will get another crack at Blueskiesnrainbows on Saturday, when the Southern California shippers meet at Louisiana Downs for the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby.
Blueskiesnrainbows won the Grade 2 Swaps over Rousing Sermon back in July, and on the strength of that effort Blueskiesnrainbows was installed the 3-2 morning-line favorite for the 33rd edition of the Super Derby when entries were taken Wednesday. Blueskiesnrainbows will break from post 3 in a field of nine for what is the richest race of the meet at Louisiana Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fatal Bullet, the 2008 Canadian Horse of the Year, will run with an $80,000 claiming tag in the featured eighth race Friday at Woodbine, a third-level optional claimer at six furlongs. Post time for the first of nine races is 1:05 p.m.
Fatal Bullet, 7, finished second to Midnight Lute in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in 2008 after taking the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Sprint Stakes with a 108 Beyer Speed Figure. The highlights of his 2009 campaign were victories in the Bold Venture Stakes (109 Beyer) and the Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse hit the trifecta here in Monday’s 6 1/2-furlong Simcoe, the yearling sales stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings. Casse did not wager, which would have yielded only $165.50 for each $2 played, but saddled the first three finishers for a gross return of $180,000.
Dynamic Sky led the way, scoring by a head over Honorable Guest, with Star Contender a distant third. The three are unlikely to meet again in the near future.
Deacon Speakin’ successfully defended his title in the $37,800 Portland Meadows Mile on Monday, holding off fellow Northern California invader When We Met for a three-quarter-length victory. Lesson in Deceit rallied for third, 13 1/2 lengths behind When We Met.
Under Luis Torres, Deacon Speakin' stalked the pace of See Ya Later Slew, took the lead into the stretch, and finished the one-mile race in 1:37.08. When We Met rallied behind Deacon Speakin' and couldn't catch him.
DEL MAR - Wednesday's closing-day card at Del Mar received a boost on Monday, when no one hit the pick six, resulting in a carryover of $194,259.
Because it is closing day, there will be a mandatory payout. The pick six begins on race 5, the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf.
