ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Six of the last 14 winners of the $150,000 Swynford Stakes were eventually crowned champion 2-year-old in Canada, which includes subsequent Grade 1 winners Mine That Bird and Exciting Story. The unbeaten Uncaptured will continue in his attempt to add his name to the honor roll Sunday at Woodbine in the 57th running of the seven-furlong sprint.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – David O’Connor worked with Thoroughbreds growing up in Ireland and ever since he arrived in Canada some 40 years ago.
“My teenage years in Ireland were spent at Glencairn Stables, owned by the famous Irish horseman Seamus McGrath,” O’Connor said. “They teach it all at Glencairn and at 14 years of age I was doing it all, from hot-walking to grooming to galloping.”
O’Connor, 56, said that as an apprentice, he was assigned to the low level of the stable environment.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Craig MacPherson isn’t sure what Stormin for Becka is going to do when he runs in the $100,000 Jack Diamond Futurity at Hastings on Sunday. The 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-olds drew eight horses and is one of the five stakes races supporting the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby. Post time for the first of 10 races is 12:50 p.m. Pacific.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Evelyn’s Dancer has easily handled the local 3-year-old fillies at Hastings while giving away significant amounts of weight. In her last start she packed 125 pounds and conceded from 10 to 16 pounds while winning the Hong Kong Jockey Club. How tough will she be at equal weights in the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks on Sunday? In a word: formidable.
The 1 1/8-mile Oaks drew seven horses and goes as the fifth race on a 10-race card that includes the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby.
COLUMBUS, Neb. – The Nebraska racing season concludes with the $15,000-added Columbus Futurity on Sunday. A field of eight Nebraska-bred juveniles will go six furlongs on the closing-day card at Columbus’s Agricultural Park.
Go Gold won his career debut in the Lincoln Futurity on June 24 going 4 1/2 furlongs for trainer Ron Westermann. His only other start came here Aug. 19, when he finished a non-threatening fourth in the Club House Special.
POMONA, Calif. – Wagering value might be hard to find Sunday in $50,000 Jim Kostoff Stakes at Fairplex Park, home of the Los Angeles County Fair race meet.
Mile High Magic towers over four rivals in the 6 1/2-furlong stakes race for 3-year-olds, and he would be a tempting proposition at even-money. But the program odds are expected to drop.
Mile High Magic could start at odds-on.
AUBURN, Wash. – Only four horses will compete Sunday in Emerald Downs’s championship event for horses bred in Washington, the $40,000 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic at 1 1/16 miles. The centerpiece of Washington Cup Day – six stakes races for statebreds worth a total of $215,000 in purses – the Muckleshoot will go as the third race on a nine-race card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer David Donk is hopeful he has found the one thing that may give his filly Hessonite an edge over Gitchee Goomie in their ongoing rivalry: distance.
Sunday, when the two New York-bred fillies meet for the fifth time this year – and sixth time in 11 months – in the $150,000 John Hettinger Stakes at Belmont Park, it will be the first time at 1 1/8 miles. Though Hessonite has yet to race beyond 1 1/16 miles, Donk has been looking forward to stretching the daughter of Freud out in distance for a long time.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Street Game’s fifth-place finish in the West Point Stakes was one of the few blemishes on what was an otherwise terrific Saratoga meet for trainer Phil Serpe. Though Serpe, who went 7 for 31 at the Spa, may not have wanted to leave upstate New York, he is viewing the change of venue to Belmont Park as a positive for Street Game when he runs in Sunday’s $150,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes.
Here's my race-by-race rundown of Sunday's pick four at Hastings on Sept. 9, 2012. I'm building my wager with TicketMaker, found exclusively on DRF.com. The bets are in $0.50 increments and my budget is $100.
