VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Commandress, Dorreen’s Delight, and Satellite Debris finished one-two-three in a 1 1/16-mile $25,000 claiming race for 3-year-old fillies June 15, and they look like the main players in a similar race which will serve as the feature race at Hastings on Friday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Atlantic Hurricane, last year’s Canadian champion female sprinter, heads a six-horse field Friday on the Woodbine turf in the six-furlong $89,400 allowance prep for the July 29 Royal North Stakes.
Atlantic Hurricane was a front-runner when she was claimed for a bargain $40,000 in June of last year by trainer Stuart Simon. She subsequently won two optional claimers on the grass, along with the Grade 3 Seaway Stakes on the Polytrack.
Logical horses shipping in from Kentucky swept the first two stakes of the season Tuesday night at Mountaineer.
Revelstoke, a 4-year-old filly based at the Thoroughbred Training Center near Keeneland, cruised to a 4 3/4-length score in the $75,000 Firecracker for fillies and mares going a mile on turf.
One race later, heavy favorite Strike Impact ($3.60), an 8-year-old Churchill-based gelding, rallied to get up by a neck over Sal the Barber in the $75,000 Independence Day, also at one mile on turf.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – With the temperatures expected to reach triple digits and a heat index expected to hit 114 degrees on July 4, officials at Canterbury Park has canceled its holiday card and rescheduled the day's events for Saturday.
“The health of both our equine and human athletes as well as our race fans is always our primary concern," said Canterbury Park President Randy Sampson. "After consulting with chief state veterinarian Dr. Lynn Hovda, we have determined it is in everyone’s best interests to cancel tomorrow’s races.”
Tuesday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap at Parx turned into a summer rerun of a May stakes for New York-breds at Belmont Park when Gitchee Goomie and Hessonite repeated their one-two finish and the identical margin at the finish.
The only difference from the May 27 Mount Vernon, in which Gitchee Goomie scored by a half-length as the 6-5 favorite over 3-1 Hessonite, was the odds. In the rematch, the David Donk-trained Hessonite went off the 5-2 favorite while Gitchee Goomie was co-second choice at 3-1.
Del Mar has raised purses in most categories for its upcoming meeting, with an added emphasis on higher prize money for maiden special weight and allowance races.
The condition book, detailing the majority of the races to be offered in the first two weeks of the meeting, from July 18-29, was published last week. The meeting runs through Sept. 5.
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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Led by a promising maiden in Golden Production, owner Samantha Siegel and trainer Ron Ellis have three starters at Betfair Hollywood Park on Thursday, with chances for a multiple win day.
Siegel and Ellis start Revered in the second race, which is for maiden claimers over 6 1/2 furlongs; Temerity in the third race, a $25,000 claimer over 1 1/16 miles; and Golden Production in the sixth race, for maidens over six furlongs. Joe Talamo has the mount on all three runners.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Four months later, the eighth-place finish by Thirtyfirststreet in the Santa Anita Handicap still stings co-owner Mark Gorman.
Turning into the stretch, Thirtyfirststreet was fourth when jockey Eswan Flores guided the 4-year-old colt to the rail, aiming for a narrow gap. There was not enough space. An 83-1 shot, Thirtyfirststreet struck the rail and faded to finish eighth.
“We thought we’d finish first or second there,” Gorman said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stunning Stag was recording his fourth stakes score here in Monday’s $100,000 Ontario Jockey Club, a seven-furlong turf race for Ontario-bred 3-year-olds and upward.
Stunning Stag, a 7-year-old whom Sid Attard trains for his wife, Janice Attard, also has won seven other races and finished in the money in 26 of 34 starts while earning $989,435. More than $900,000 of that total has been bagged since Stunning Stag was claimed for $40,000 here from his fifth start on Nov. 17, 2007.
