Toby’s Corner returned from a layoff well enough, finishing third this winter in both the Grade 2 General George and Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap.
“He started off great,” said Graham Motion, trainer of Toby’s Corner. “But then his last two races have been real head-scratchers.”
Parx Racing is running a pair of $75,000 stakes for Pennsylvania-breds on Saturday, and trainer John Servis has a solid contender in each race.
Servis sends out Yourhonorandglory in the Crowd Pleaser for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on the turf and Parvenu in the Power By Far for filly and mare sprinters.
The barn always held Yourhonorandglory in high esteem, especially when he won two of his first four starts. His progress was derailed by a bout of Lyme disease after running 12th in the Gulfstream Park Derby on New Year’s Day.
OPELOUSAS, La. – Louisiana’s best 2-year-olds will go postward in two divisions of the D.S. “Shine” Young Futurity at Evangeline Downs Saturday night.
The filly division goes as the eighth of 11 races on the evening card and will be worth $131,100, while the colts and geldings go in the 10th for a purse of $124,600. Both races will be contested at five furlongs.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Saturday’s inaugural $150,000 Mystic Lake Derby is the first significant co-promotional event between the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Canterbury Park since an $83.5 million cooperative marketing and purse enhancement agreement was reached on June 6.
It is the richest race held at Canterbury since the track reopened under its current management in 1995.
Hollywood Dreams will try to get back on track when he runs at Northlands Park on Saturday in an allowance race for horses who have not won a race other than maiden or claiming in 2012. There also is a $40,000 claiming option in the conditions of the six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up that drew seven horses.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Paynter has been made the 3-2 favorite against five rivals in the $1 million Haskell Invitational for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park on Sunday.
Paynter drew post 3 with Rafael Bejarano set to ride for trainer Bob Baffert, a five-time Haskell winner. This will be Paynter's first start since just missing by a neck in the Belmont Stakes.
Dullahan, third in the Kentucky Derby, and Wood Memorial winner Gemologist are the co-second choices at 3-1. Dullahan has post 2; Gemologist post 4.
Nonios is the 7-2 fourth choice from the rail.
La Gata Negra was not the obvious choice to emerge from the July 13 time trials as the fastest qualifier for Saturday’s $380,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos.
Winless in her first two starts, she won a division of the trials by a nose in 17.57 seconds, despite weaving in and out through 350 yards.
There will be no margin for error in Saturday’s final, her second start for trainer Mark Skeen.
“I think she has a good shot,” said Mark’s wife, Holly, who assists her husband. “We need a clean break.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – My Bailout may have proved once and for all that she does not want to go a middle distance when she finished last in 1 1/16-mile $25,000 claiming race for fillies and mares last Sunday. It was her fourth route attempt and each time she has been beaten by double-digit margins.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Favored Jenna’s Wabbit got away with leisurely fractions and kept on going to take the $125,000 Deputy Minister Stakes on Wednesday night at Woodbine.
Jenna’s Wabbit had no problem carrying high weight of 128 pounds during a rainstorm in the seven-furlong sprint. He established splits of 23.64 and 45.47 while being pressed by Bear and Rod, and then drew clear in the stretch to score by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:23.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Suggestive Boy was Argentina’s top horse in 2011. After his first two starts in this country, he is rapidly moving up the rankings of turf males within these borders.
Wednesday at Del Mar, Suggestive Boy won his first stakes in the United States in the restricted $88,700 Wickerr Stakes over a mile on turf. Ridden by Joe Talamo, Suggestive Boy was timed in 1:33.21, winning by three-quarters of a length over Calimonco, the winner of the 2011 Wickerr. He paid $3.60.
