VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Take your pick in what appears to be a wide-open feature at Hastings on Wednesday. The 6 1/2-furlong allowance race for 3-year-olds and up that have never won two races, or B.C.-bred nonwinners of three, drew nine horses and goes race 7 on the eight-race card that begins at 3:30 p.m. Pacific.
Trainer Peter Gregory thinks he has a good shot at winning his third British Columbia Derby at Hastings with High End Man, who was an impressive winner of the Richmond Derby Trial last Friday. Gregory won the Grade 3 race two years in a row for Empire Farms with Ever Steady in 1990 and Bolulight in 1991. High End Man appears to be peaking at exactly the right time. His final time for the 1 1/16-mile race was an excellent 1:42.86, less than a second off the track record of 1:42.20 set by Coral Isle in 1973. High End Man was coming off a disappointing third-place finish in the B.C.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield took his time with Forte dei Marmi after the 6-year-old gelding finished sixth when traveling to Virginia for the 1 3/16-mile Colonial Turf Cup on June 16. On Sunday, Attfield’s patience paid major dividends as Forte dei Marmi rallied to score by three-quarters of a length here in the Grade 2, $264,000 Sky Classic over 1 1/4 miles on the turf course.
There are few clues as to which of the seven 2-year-old fillies in the lineup for Wednesday’s $50,000 Our Mims Stakes at Delaware Park is best suited to handle two turns and the one-mile distance. One statistic, however, jumps out.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The sale of top Pacific Classic contender Richard’s Kid by Zabeel International to a partnership led by Paul Boghossian’s Triple B Farms took less than 24 hours on Friday and Saturday and surprised many of the participants because of its rapid completion.
Bobby Handy looks like the one to catch and beat in a $30,000 claiming race that will serve as Wednesday’s feature at Northlands Park. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up drew six horses and goes as the fourth race.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Fueled by a pair of pick six carryovers last week, Del Mar’s average overall handle continued to rise this meeting, to an average of $11,696,306 per day, a healthy 6 percent hike from an average of $11,032,487 through the comparable first five weeks of last year’s meet.
Kim Veerhusen, a trainer based at small tracks in the Midwest and Southwest, has been suspended through Sept. 19 after a horse he trains tested positive for dermorphin, the morphine-like substance that has been found in post-race tests at tracks in Louisiana and New Mexico.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Sparky E Boy overcame a troubled start to win Sunday’s $69,840 Bank of America California Challenge Stakes at Los Alamitos.
With the victory, Sparky E Boy’s first stakes win since the Town Policy Stakes in November 2010, the 5-year-old gelding earned a berth to the $350,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship at Prairie Meadows on Oct. 27.
After Sunday’s race, owner-breeder Reed Pierson and trainer Francisco Ramirez said that Sparky E Boy may remain in California for the major stakes for older horses this fall.
AUBURN, Wash. -- Taylor Said and jockey Mario Gutierrez overcame a difficult post position and a stellar field Sunday to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Longaces Mile at Emerald Downs.
The top handicap horse in British Columbia after four consecutive victories at Hastings in Vancouver, Taylor Said ran his overall winning streak to six with a head victory over Winning Machine. Awesome Gem, a slight wagering favorite at 5-2, rallied through a traffic jam at the top of the stretch to be a fast-closing third in the field of 10.
