ELMONT, N.Y. – Samitar, a Group 1 winner in Ireland, will try to become a Grade 1 winner in the United States when she heads a field of seven entered in Saturday’s $300,000 Garden City Stakes at Belmont Park.
The Garden City, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies, tops a 10-race card that also includes the Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel, a one-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
Freud’s Notebook, who has run two sharp races since she was claimed for $25,000 in June, returns to the statebred ranks in the $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares at Finger Lakes.
In her two starts since coming into the barn of Bruce Levine, the 5-year-old Freud’s Notebook missed by a head after setting the pace in a seven-furlong starter allowance at Parx and then dueled up front early and finished second in a second-level optional $32,000 claimer going a mile at Monmouth Park.
AUBURN, Wash. – Wasserman, on the downside of his career, will meet some horses on the way up Saturday in the feature race at Emerald Downs, a $20,000 claimer at six furlongs. First post time for the eight-race card is 2 p.m. Pacific.
Bond James Bond and Shanghai Charlie look like the main players in the $50,000 Alberta Breeders’ Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park on Saturday. The 1 1/16-mile race headlines the annual Fall Classic Card that features seven stakes races restricted to horses bred in Alberta. Post time for the first race is noon Mountain. The Breeders’ drew 10 horse and is the last of 11 races.
POMONA, Calif. – By the time the Breeders’ Cup rolls around in November, the 2-year-old filly Pure Indy may have perfected the art of playing catch-up.
It worked two weeks ago at Del Mar, where Pure Indy broke slow in a maiden sprint, spotted the leaders eight lengths, then blew past the entire field to win geared down.
Pure Indy wheels right back Saturday at Fairplex Park, where she is favored to win the $100,000 Barretts Debutante. Her connections hope the 6 1/2-furlong stakes is a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Alcibiades on Oct. 5 at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup.
POMONA, Calif. – The sprint division in California just got a lot more interesting.
Reneesgotzip, the 3-year-old filly who blazed to a 1:08.23 comeback win Sept. 5 at Del Mar, will step outside her division to face champion Amazombie on Oct. 6 in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, a six-furlong stakes formerly named the Ancient Title.
Trainer Peter Miller announced Thursday that Reneesgotzip would target the $250,000 Sprint Championship, with an eye toward the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Javerre takes the next step in his impressive development, while Hermosillo tries to add another chapter to an already substantial history Saturday in the 10th annual New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival at Monmouth Park.
The 10-race card is devoted exclusively to statebreds, with a trio of stakes topping the program.
The $75,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap is the richest of the three, while the New Jersey Breeders and the Jersey Girl for fillies and mares both carry $60,000 purses.
ELMONT, N.Y. – While there are a pair of graded turf stakes at Belmont Park Saturday, one of the more intriguing races on the card comes in a first-level allowance on dirt earlier on the 10-race program.
The one-mile, $75,000 first-level allowance drew a field of 11 led by Graydar, a 3-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song who has not raced since winning his career debut at Gulfstream Park by 8 1/2 lengths on Easter Sunday in April.
ELMONT, N.Y. – In two rides aboard Dealbata, Ramon Dominguez has a win and a second aboard the 4-year-old Irish-bred filly. Dominguez said he was more impressed with Dealbata’s half-length loss in last month’s De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga than her one-length win in the Mohegan Sky here in June.
Saturday, Dealbata will get a chance to avenge her loss to Julie’s Love in the De La Rose when she faces that rival and seven others in the Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel Stakes run at one mile over Belmont Park’s Widener turf course.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — In the brief history of the Northern Dancer, which dates back to just 2006, no 3-year-old and no filly or mare has gone up against the older males. But trainer Mark Frostad will be looking to break through both barriers on Sunday with the 3-year-old filly Irish Mission set to complete in the Grade 1, $500,000 Northern Dancer at 1 1/2 miles on the turf.
