SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With less than a quarter mile to run, all 10 starters in Thursday’s $100,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial at Saratoga were bunched within just a length of one another as the field turned into the stretch. And at the wire, after 2 1/16 grueling miles over nine hurdles, only inches separated the winner of the Grade 1 Smithwick, the 25-1 Spy in the Sky, from the hard-luck runner-up Left Unsaid.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Canterbury Park on Saturday will host the second annual Fillies Race for Hope, a day of horse racing and fundraising to benefit the Hope Chest for Breast Cancer Foundation and Pay It Forward Fund. There are three stakes on the day, including the $100,000 Lady Canterbury Stakes.
“The inaugural event was very successful,” Canterbury Park president Randy Sampson said of Fillies Race for Hope Day. “We expect that Saturday will be even bigger.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario − Trainer Mike Keogh has been represented in the last three editions of the Breeders’ Stakes, but his runners, Delawana, Silent Wisper, and Full Throttle, were all well beaten at long odds. On Sunday, Keogh will be hoping for a return to better Breeders’ days, such as his Triple Crown-clinching success with Wando in 2003, when he sends out Ultimate Destiny and Street Fight.
A 1 1/2-mile turf race, the $500,000 Breeders’ follows Woodbine’s Queen’s Plate and Fort Erie’s Prince of Wales in the Triple Crown series for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Devil in Disguise will be a solid favorite when he runs in the $50,000 Count Lathum Handicap for 3-year-olds at Northlands Park Saturday. The 1 1/16-mile feature attracted six horses and will serve as the final local prep for the Grade 3, $200,000 Canadian Derby Aug. 25.
Golden Stripe, an explosive 13 3/4-length winner of the July 1 Canada Day Stakes, will be looking to come right back in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile Winnipeg Sun at Assiniboia Downs.
The $30,000 Winnipeg Sun has attracted a field of eight fillies and mares and will go as the eighth race on a nine-race program.
Bred in Manitoba by her owner, Phil Kives, Golden Stripe was making her third start of the season and recording her first win when leading throughout the Canada Day under new rider Trevor Simpson.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Greg Tracy has an excellent chance of winning his 1,000th race this weekend at either Hastings or Northlands Park. Tracy had won 998 races going into Thursday and he has three horses entered at Northlands Friday, four Saturday, and two at Hastings Saturday.
If he does get to the milestone he thinks it will come Saturday.
“The horses I have in on Friday aren’t as live as the ones Saturday,” he said. “I think I have a good shot with both of the horses entered at Hastings.”
Undefeated 2-year-old filly Baby Princess was injured in a freak accident Tuesday at Presque Isle Downs and required more than 300 stitches to close her wound, according to her trainer, Joe Martin.
Baby Princess was pulling up after winning the third race, an allowance sprint, when she spooked under jockey Pablo Morales. Baby Princess ran into and fell on top of the outer rail, resulting in a nearly foot long gash that started between her front legs.
CHESTER, W.Va. – At first glance, Seruni might look like a turf specialist. Twelve of his 18 career races have been on grass, including all five this year. But horseplayers may want to take a little closer look, said Phil Oliver, trainer of the 5-year-old gelding.
[WEST VIRGINIA DERBY: Get PPs and watch Saturday’s full card live]
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Stunning Stag, the runner-up in the last two editions, has an excellent chance to capture Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Seagram Cup at Woodbine.
Stunning Stag, who was a bargain $40,000 claim by trainer Sid Attard in 2007, is just $10,565 shy of $1 million in career earnings. He was beaten a head by James Street in last year’s Seagram after closing strongly from off dawdling fractions in the mile and a sixteenth route.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.– At odds of 39-1, Emma’s Encore obviously fooled a lot of people, perhaps even trainer Allen Jerkens himself, when she rallied to a 2 3/4-length victory over a field that included the previously undefeated Agave Kiss last month in Belmont Park’s Grade 3 Victory Ride.
