Raise the Reward, who has collected 3 wins and 4 seconds from 8 starts this year, looks to continue his success as he heads a field of eight Ohio-accredited foals, including 2011 Ohio horse of the year Catlaunch, in Friday’s $50,000 George Lewis Memorial Stakes at Thistledown.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It’s always nice to have a Plan B as lucrative as the Man o’ War Stakes.
Trainer Bill Mott had planned to bring Newsdad back to the races off a two-month layoff in the $200,000 Dominion Day Stakes at Woodbine on July 1. But the horse sustained a cut near his eye on the ship from New York to Canada and was scratched from the 1 1/4-mile race on Polytrack.
Saturday, Newsdad, away from the races since finishing fifth as the favorite in the Grade 2 Elkhorn at Keeneland on April 27, is back on the turf in the Grade 1, $600,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.
Jockeys’ locker rooms are known for concentrating competitors in a tight space and asking them to get along. This season at Suffolk Downs, seven female jockeys – including the top two jocks in the standings – are squeezed into the same space.
Tammi Piermarini sits in her now customary spot atop the standings after winning the last three riding titles. Jackie Davis is tied for second after six weeks. She finished second in the standings here last season.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The fourth-place finish by Left a Message in the Grade 3 Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 16 left trainer Tom Proctor with a strong opinion of the filly’s stakes debut. She was better than the race indicated, and deserving of another start in a stakes.
Proctor had two options – the $350,000 American Oaks at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday or the $150,000 Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs on July 21. He chose the California race largely because of the weather.
Trainer Ron Grieves isn’t expecting impressive debut winner Fly Ruudy Fly to go on and become one of the elite horses at Northlands Park. Nonetheless, Grieves is hopeful Fly Ruudy Fly will be good enough to get through his conditions. If Fly Ruudy Fly moves forward following his smart debut, he could have the first step taken care of Friday night when he runs in a one-mile first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up that drew eight horses.
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.
