Two-time graded stakes winner Grace Hall heads a powerful three-horse entry for trainer Tony Dutrow in Saturday’s Grade 2 Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park.
The $400,000 Oaks highlights a card that includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Robert Dick Memorial for fillies and mares on turf and the $50,000 Oh Say for 3-year-olds. Entries for all three stakes on Saturday’s program were drawn Wednesday afternoon.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – The $46,000 filly and mare feature Friday at Monmouth Park could be a sweet spot for Millennia.
The return to turf at 1 1/16 miles looks like a tonic for the 5-year-old mare trained by David Fawkes.
Millennia has the outside slot against six rivals in the third-level $60,000 claimer.
She was in a 1 1/16-mile grass groove over the winter and into the spring in Florida. In a four-race span, Millennia had a pair of close seconds and finished within 2 1/2 lengths of the winner each time.
BOOSIER CITY, La. – Ask anyone familiar with the riding colony at Louisiana Downs what the biggest surprise of the 2012 season has been so far, and you will likely get the same answer: Chris Rosier.
As the meeting crossed its halfway point last Sunday, Rosier, 31, trails only defending champion Richard Eramia in the standings. Rosier’s 37 victories have already surpassed his total from all of last season.
“It is all about maturity,” said Rosier, who admits he was not the best representative of his vocation as a young man.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – El Aguila Real will have a highly unconventional preparation for the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in December.
A two-time major stakes winner this year, the 4-year-old El Aguila Real is not expected to start again until the Dec. 15 Champion of Champions. He will go into the race as one of the top California-based contenders on the basis of his wins in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship in February and the $200,000 Vessels Maturity last Sunday.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Marketway was a convincing winner over Ten Thirty in the $50,000 Boulevard Casino Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Hastings last Sunday. Marketway’s owner, Glen Todd, was convinced enough to send her to Del Mar to point to the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 1.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockeys Eurico Da Silva and Patrick Husbands were tied for the most turf wins at the Woodbine meet with 13 apiece heading into this week. They both have a mount in Friday’s third race, a first-level allowance on the grass.
Da Silva will ride Red Eagle, who could be the dominant front-runner in the six-furlong feature. Following a lucrative 2011 campaign under the guidance of trainer Abraham Katryan, Red Eagle is winless in four starts this year, although several of those performances were solid.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A showdown is brewing in the 6 1/2-furlong Bold Venture Stakes here next Wednesday evening.
Essence Hit Man, a 5-year-old gelding, was Canada’s champion male sprinter of 2011, and he is again the sheriff in that category, with victories in the Jacques Cartier and Vigil and a second-place in the Highlander during a rare foray over the turf course.
But Essence Hit Man will have a formidable younger gun to deal with in the 4-year-old gelding Eternal Rule.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Irish Mission, winner of the Woodbine Oaks and runner-up in the Queen’s Plate, will break from post 6 and has been made the 5-2 morning-line favorite for Sunday’s $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes.
A field of nine was entered for the Prince of Wales at the ceremonial draw here Wednesday with Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte the guest drawmaster.
“It’s a perfect draw this time,” said trainer Mark Frostad, who had watched Irish Mission break from the outside post in the field of 14 for the Queen’s Plate.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Strong Impact ran too good to lose in his last start. Perhaps he will have some better luck on Friday the Thirteenth.
Strong Impact looms the horse to catch and beat in Friday’s seventh at Belmont Park, a $55,000 starter allowance race for horses that have started for a claiming tag of $50,000 or less.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Miss Speed Dating and Unusual Hottie were the victims of their own bad luck in their last starts.
Miss Speed Dating raced in traffic in her last start, on June 21, and finished fourth. Unusual Hottie led into the stretch May 25 and was caught late, finishing third.
They are the leading contenders in an optional claimer over a mile on turf for California-bred fillies and mares at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday evening. Friday’s card is the start of the final weekend of the spring-summer meeting. Del Mar opens Wednesday.
