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.
Thursday’s second race was supposed to be a confidence booster for the graded stakes winner St. John’s River on her way to a Grade 1 appearance later in the meet.
Instead, it turned out to be an Alabama prep for the 3-year-old Sea Island, who won the $90,000 second-level allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths over St. John’s River, who got second by a nose over Acting Happy.
After the race, trainer Shug McGaughey said he would likely point Sea Island to the Grade 1 Alabama here Aug. 18.
Centre Court, who overcame some bumping and a bit of traffic to win Wednesday’s Grade 2 Lake George Stakes by a neck, could return in the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes here Aug. 19, trainer Rusty Arnold said.
Arnold’s major goal with Centre Court is the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland in early October.
“She’ll have one more race between now and then,” said Arnold, who trains Centre Court for owner/breeder G. Watts Humphrey. “It’ll either be the Lake Placid or something else. If she’s good, it’ll be here. That’ll give me six weeks to the Queen Elizabeth.”
Fifteen horses have been nominated to the $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds. The race will be run here Aug. 5.
Strait of Dover, winner of the 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate here June 24, passed on the second leg of the Triple Crown, the July 15 Prince of Wales on Fort Erie’s dirt surface, to point for the Breeders’.
Dixie Strike, the filly who won the Prince of Wales, is nominated to the Breeders’ but is heading for Saratoga’s Alabama.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Peter Miller had the Grade 1 winner Comma to the Top entered in an optional claimer on Thursday, but scratched him in favor of a start in Sunday’s $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes over six furlongs.
The Grade 1 Bing Crosby drew five, led by Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, and The Factor, a five-time stakes winner. Comma to the Top is co-owned by Gary Barber, who also has a partnership share in Don Tito, another Bing Crosby entrant. Capital Account was also entered.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario − Coming off a 5 1/2-length win in the Clarendon on June 30, Uncaptured looms as the one to beat in Saturday’s $150,000 Vandal Stakes at Woodbine.
A six-furlong race for Ontario-foaled 2-year-olds, the Vandal attracted a field of six, and Uncaptured is one of three from the barn of trainer Mark Casse, along with Calgary Cat and Dynamic Strike.
Uncaptured and Calgary Cat are owned by John Oxley. Casse said only one would start and that Calgary Cat is in more as a backup.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A year ago, owner-breeder Fred Brei sent his homebred Jackson Bend from Calder to trainer Nick Zito at Saratoga to win a pair of sprint stakes, including the Grade 1 Forego. On Sunday, Brei and Zito will attempt to use a similar modus operandi with Fort Loudon to win the Grade 2 Amsterdam, an important stepping-stone to the Grade 1 King’s Bishop at the end of the meet.
