ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Shippers should be very prominent in both the My Dear and the Trillium, the two stakes that are coming in well under the radar on Woodbine’s Queen’s Plate Day program.
Ju Ju Eyeballs, a member of Wesley Ward’s division at Monmouth Park, is looming as the choice of seven 2-year-old fillies in $150,000, five-furlong My Dear.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Belmont Park canceled the final five races of Friday’s card due to power issues as a result of a strong storm that ripped through the area following the fourth race.
The power issues didn’t totally disable the track as simulcasting operations were able to continue.
According to New York Racing Association officials, the production truck that distributes the Belmont signal lost power. Also, the cameras the stewards use were disabled by the power outage, which by itself would have triggered a cancellation.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Adjournment comes a little earlier this year at Churchill Downs. For the last 12 years, the spring meet has extended through the July 4 holiday, if not beyond. But the way the calendar happens to fall in 2012, with July 4 being on a Wednesday, the decision was made last fall to run just 39 days and to end on July 1, marking the earliest closing since 1999.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – He has a ways to go, this Sound Effect, but if further inspiration is needed to keep up his good synthetic-surface work, a rival in Sunday’s featured eighth race at Arlington, Helicopter, would provide it.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield should send out the winner of Sunday’s Grade 3 Singspiel, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up.
But just who that winner would be remains a burning question, with both Musketier and Simmard coming in with adequate credentials to take home the winner’s share of the $150,000 stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Jockey Patrick Valenzuela has low expectations for the rest of the Betfair Hollywood Park meeting, which runs through July 15.
The upcoming summer meeting at Del Mar is a different matter.
In recent weeks, Valenzuela, 49, has ridden sparingly after taking nearly three weeks off – from May 20 to June 9 – to focus on weight issues. At the current meeting, he has 2 wins from 31 mounts, with one victory aboard Acclamation in the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Handicap on June 9.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Spaghetti Mouse will try to get back on track in his quest to become the first British Columbia-bred to win more than $1 million when he runs in a first-level, $35,000 optional claiming race that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Hastings. The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up drew eight horses, and the shape of the race should favor Spaghetti Mouse.
A possible duel between Notoriously and Rubyintheruff could set up Alywyn in the $50,000 Wild Rose Handicap for fillies and mares at Northlands Sunday. The six-furlong sprint drew five horses and goes as the seventh race on an eight-race card that begins at 1:00 p.m. Mountain.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Knowing that seven claims were in for Isthmus when he made his last start for $40,000, his new trainer, Brad Cox, acknowledged with a slight chuckle that “it’s possible” a claim slip or two might be filled out for the 4-year-old colt when he wheels back Sunday for $50,000.
The Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby is the centerpiece of the Sunland Park stakes schedule that was approved Thursday by the New Mexico Racing Commission. The panel also granted the track a 76-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that will open Dec. 7 and run through April 16, 2013.
