ELMONT, N.Y. – After a relatively slow first half of the year, trainer Nick Zito is gearing up for a strong second half with one old reliable horse and a trio of up-and-coming 3-year-olds.
Jackson Bend, who has provided Zito with both of his graded stakes victories this year, completed his major preparation for next Friday’s Grade 3, $100,000 James Marvin Stakes by working four furlongs in 48.93 seconds Thursday morning over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Silver Max does everything a grass horse isn’t supposed to do. He dashes out of the gate full-throttle and makes straight for the lead. His jockey might try to take a rating hold, cajoling Silver Max to relax and burst home later, but Silver Max doesn’t go for that. He runs free, setting fast fractions that would knock out most horses racing two turns on turf. But Silver Max, so far, has not slowed down.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The dominance that trainer Bob Baffert’s stable has showed at the current spring-summer meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park will not extend into Del Mar, he said on Thursday.
Going into Thursday’s program, the first day of the final week of the Hollywood Park meeting, Baffert had a commanding lead in the trainer’s standings with 33 wins, leading runner-up John Sadler by 22 races.
Hollywood Park’s meeting closes on Sunday. Del Mar opens on Wednesday.
Trainer Heath Taylor, fresh off winning the Grade 2, $327,715 Firecracker Futurity for Quarter Horses at Delta Downs, will be chasing the Delta meet’s richest prize Saturday night when he sends out fastest qualifier Fast Talkin Henry and stablemate Bigtime Beau in the $551,055 Lee Berwick Memorial Futurity.
The 350-yard race, which is a restricted Grade 1, is one of seven stakes for Louisiana-bred Quarter Horses on the closing-night card at Delta. The races are worth a cumulative $931,055.
The same five horses who ran June 30 at Lincoln Race Course in the Breeders’ Special are rematched Saturday in the $27,500 Fanango Lady Stakes for 3-year-old Nebraska-bred fillies going a mile at Horsemen’s Park.
Bumper’s Shadow scored by 1 3/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite in the six-furlong Breeders’ Special.
Southern Style returns to defend his title against eight rivals in Saturday night’s $50,000 Oak Hall Stakes, the seven-furlong feature at Evangeline Downs.
Now 7, Southern Style has not lost a step, as he comes into this year’s edition of the Oak Hall off a gutsy half-length score in the Need for Speed Stakes over the Evangeline grass course. Southern Style also won last year’s Need for Speed when it was contested over the main track. He once again seems to be in top form and will be reunited with jockey Ramsey Zimmerman, who was aboard in the Need for Speed.
AUBURN, Wash. – Frank Lucarelli had been on the mother of all hot streaks until going 0 for 7 last weekend, but the veteran trainer has a strong chance to get back into the win column Saturday in the feature race at Emerald Downs. First post is 2 p.m. Pacific, and the feature, a $25,000 claimer for nonwinners of three races, is the eighth event on a nine-race card.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Old-timers have won previous editions of the Stars and Stripes Stakes. Cetewayo was 8 when he captured the 2002 running, the same age as Silverfoot when he won in 2008. Musketier is taking things to another level. The 10-year-old exits an exciting win over his stablemate, Simmard, in the Singspiel Stakes at Woodbine, a performance that has made him the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the Grade 3, $150,000 Stars and Stripes at Arlington.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The $150,000 Landaluce Stakes on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park would have been a swell betting race, with an evenly matched field.
That was before Executiveprivilege was entered in the six-furlong stakes. Her presence turns a seemingly competitive sprint with eight juvenile fillies into a virtual exhibition.
The smashing debut by Executiveprivilege was the most impressive performance of the meet by a 2-year-old filly, and it makes her an apparent standout in the Landaluce, race 4.
Bated Breath was 15 races into his career before he won his first group race, the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock Park in England in late May.
It was a rare drop in class out of Group 1 company for the 5-year-old, who later finished second in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19. Saturday at Newmarket Racecourse, Bated Breath makes his eighth appearance in a Group 1, in the July Cup over six furlongs. Second in the 2011 July Cup, Bated Breath will be favored in a field of 15.
