DEL MAR, Calif. – In the nearly three months since Amazombie finished second to Shackleford in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 5, the performance has increased in stature.
Shackleford went on to win the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park in late May and should have a major role in one-turn races in coming months.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Dene Court will try to stretch her speed out to 10 furlongs on turf Sunday at Woodbine in the $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes, the final race of the Canadian triple tiara, a series for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Irish Mission captured the opening leg, the Woodbine Oaks, before facing males in the Canadian Triple Crown. A fresh Blue Heart took the middle stage, the Bison City Stakes, and she appears to be a viable candidate to stay the trip on Sunday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Atlantic Hurricane, Canada’s reigning champion female sprinter, got back on target here July 6 in the allowance prep for the Royal North Stakes. On Sunday, Atlantic Hurricane will be looking to duplicate that success in the Royal North, run over the same six-furlong distance on the turf but worth $150,000 and offering Grade 3 status to the field of seven fillies and mares.
“She seems to really be on her game,” said Stuart Simon, trainer and a part-owner of the 5-year-old Atlantic Hurricane. “I’m really happy with her. She’s going in great.”
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Afleeting Lady was no match for Royal Delta in her most recent effort, the Grade 2 Fleur De Lis at Churchill Downs.
No shame in that. After all, Royal Delta is the top-ranked older female runner on Daily Racing Form ’s national handicapper Mike Watchmaker’s weekly divisional ratings.
Afleeting Lady, a distant second to Royal Delta, was clearly the best of the rest. She now comes east for the Grade 2, $200,000 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park, the main attraction on Sunday’s Haskell Invitational undercard.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, the parent company of Hastings, announced Friday that they have reached an agreement with the City of Vancouver to extend its lease of the track until November 2014. The current lease was due to expire in November.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Former trainer Chris MacDonald, 71, remains a strong fan of Thoroughbred horse racing.
And, even though he currently rests in a hospital bed, MacDonald’s advocacy for the sport has no end.
“I cannot understand what the premier of Ontario was thinking about when he announced the end of the revenue-sharing program between the government and racetracks,” MacDonald said.
“There is no question that it is a very successful program and it has been copied by a number of other jurisdictions outside of Ontario.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Troy Taylor and owner Glen Todd said they are seriously considering entering Taylors Deal in the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park on Aug. 4.
“If we can get in, we’re probably going to go,” Todd said.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Crew Leader rallied to finish third in a $40,000 optional claiming race July 14, signaling that he could be ready to return to the form that saw him win three races last year, including the $50,000 S.W. Randall Plate. Trainer Dino Condilenios is hoping Crew Leader will continue his progress Sunday at Hastings when he runs in an allowance race for 3-year-olds and up which haven’t won $30,000 in 2012. There is also a $40,000 claiming option for the 1 1/16-mile race.
Larry Jones had two of his stable stars out very early Friday at Ellis Park for a team work that the trainer is hoping will serve as a key stepping-stone to their next races.
As dawn broke over the western Kentucky track, Joyful Victory, with Gabriel Saez up, worked a mile in company with her younger stablemate, Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can, who had Ramon Vazquez aboard. The fillies stayed together for much of the way before Joyful Victory edged away by about five lengths, finishing in a swift 1:37 over a fast track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey John Velazquez is picking his spots carefully, gradually easing himself back into full-time action after sitting out nearly six weeks recuperating from a fractured collarbone suffered in a frightening spill last month at Churchill Downs. And the Hall of Famer to be couldn’t have picked a nicer spot to pick up his first win of the Saratoga meeting than aboard Artest, whom he guided from off the pace to a 1 1/2-length victory over Drago’s Best in Thursday’s $100,000 Quick Call Stakes.
