Tara From the Cape under Joe Bravo stalked the early pace in the $50,000 Thomas (Tuck) Greene Memorial before rallying in the stretch to win by 2 1/2 lengths Thursday at Delaware Park.
Bravo kept the 2-year-old filly to the outside of pacesetting Laila Baby under Jose Caraballo until upper stretch. Bravo went to work and Tara From the Cape responded in midstretch and the outcome was not in doubt. Laila Baby settled for second, a head in front of pace prompting Political Pupil in third.
[bc_video_id:259108:]DEL MAR, Calif. - Every 2-year-old colt that starts for owner Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill this summer will be heavily scrutinized.
Their runners have earned such attention because Reddam and O’Neill won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes earlier this year with the now-retired I’ll Have Another.
Last summer, I’ll Have Another finished second in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar. In Sunday’s $150,000 Best Pal Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs, Reddam and O’Neill are running the first-time starter Know More.
Master Rick could be tough to handle Saturday in the Prelude Stakes at Louisiana Downs . . . if he recaptures his spring form.
“That’s exactly what we’re hoping to do,” said trainer Steve Asmussen.
Master Rick is part of a large field of 3-year-olds competing for more than just the lion’s share of the $100,000 purse Saturday. The Prelude winner also earns a fees-paid berth into next month’s Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby, a perk worth $6,000.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Ben Perkins Jr. passed on the Teddy Drone on the Haskell undercard for his stakes-winning New Jersey-bred The Hunk, thinking the $60,000 My Frenchman turf sprint this Saturday might be an easier spot.
Perkins, like the other trainers in the race, found the My Frenchman pool got a whole lot deeper when Chamberlain Bridge wound up in the entries.
It’s not every afternoon at Monmouth Park when a Breeders’ Cup winner lands in an overnight stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.– Chad Brown said he scratched Dealbata from the Grade 3 Matchmaker Stakes at Monmouth Park last Sunday for Saturday’s $100,000 De La Rose Stakes because he preferred to run the filly at Saratoga and at a mile.
It certainly wasn’t because the De La Rose was an easier spot.
Saturday’s $100,000 De La Rose came up very deep and Dealbata is certainly one of many contenders in the one-mile race, scheduled for Saratoga’s inner turf course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Rebounding from a fourth-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup, San Pablo stalked second choice Isn't He Perfect from the outset, wrested the lead turning for home, and drew away to win Thursday's $100,000 Birdstone Stakes by three lengths for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez.
C. O. Al may go as a slight favorite when an evenly matched group of 3-year-olds goes six furlongs in the $10,000 Hall of Fame at Columbus on Saturday evening.
C. O. Al, trained by Jim Compton, won over the track this year when he rallied from off the pace to beat older rivals for a $5,000 tag July 26, the opening night of the season. He has won two straight while showing the versatility to be on the lead or come from the back of the pack. A son of Aldebaran, C. O. Al has put together a 3-1-3 mark from nine starts this year, including a pair of allowance wins.
Kauai Katie, an impressive 12-length winner in her debut here on opening day, will make her next start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack Stakes for juvenile fillies on Aug. 12, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Kauai Katie overcame a bit of a bobble at the break to win her debut in eye-catching fashion, covering 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.66. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100. While running a horse back in 23 days is atypical for Pletcher, the trainer said he sees no reason to wait for the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 2.
Southoftheborder makes another attempt at an elusive first sprint win when she runs in the $50,000 Isadorable Stakes at Suffolk Downs.
A homebred for owner and trainer Lloyd Lockhart, Southoftheborder has not been without stakes successes, winning the two-turn First Episode Stakes twice, but she is 0 for 16 at the six-furlong distance of the Isadorable. Over 50 career starts, Southoftheborder has usually run out of time in sprints, but this year’s contest offers a great chance under jockey Jorge L. Vargas.
Seven 2-year-olds, all with limited or no experience racing on grass, will race 7 1/2 furlongs on turf in the $50,000 Nick Shuk Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park.
Special Skills, a winner over nine rivals in a six-furlong turf sprint at Belmont Park in his career debut, and Private Tutor, second over yielding ground in his turf debut in the Chenery at Colonial Downs, are the only horses in the Shuk field who have raced on grass.
Based on pedigree, first-time starter Seventeenohsix and second-time starter Incognito Bandito should take to the turf.
