Sky Willow and Ask Me Anything, each coming off a victory while returning from a layoff, look like the prime contenders in Friday night’s $75,000 Lyphard Stakes at Penn National.
The Lyphard, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, drew a full field of 10 Pennsylvania-bred fillies and mares, along with two also-eligibles. It goes as race 4 at 7:24 p.m. Eastern.
There was a large vacuum created in the jockeys’ room at Hastings when the top two riders in the standings last year vacated the premises. Richard Hamel, the leading rider the past two years is recovering from knee surgery. Mario Gutierrez, second in 2011, is making a name for himself in Southern California and around the country, having won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness aboard I’ll Have Another.
The jockey ranks were also thinned when Dave Wilson was injured in a spill on May 6. Wilson won’t likely be returning until September at the earliest.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The combination of owner Glen Todd, trainer Troy Taylor and Fernando Perez has won the last three stakes at Hastings, including the $50,000 Emerald Downs with Evelyn’s Dancer last Sunday. The Emerald Downs was the first middle-distance stakes for 3-year-old fillies at the meet, and the way Evelyn’s Dancer won the 1 1/16-mile race she figures to be a major player in the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks Sept. 9.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – It is all about teamwork these days for Louisiana Downs trainer Joey Foster.
From the stable help with their distinctive bright-orange shirts and caps to Foster’s wife Cheryl who handles the books of the operation, everybody has an important role to play.
“I call it the ‘Three Good’ system,” says Foster with a grin. “Good owners, good help and, of course, good horses. Oh, and don’t forget about the biggest ‘good’ of them all – good luck in getting the other three.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Forest Maid’s lone turf race was one of her best, and she’s scheduled to get back on the grass Friday at Woodbine in a 1 1/16-mile allowance for Ontario-sired females.
Forest Maid has made eight consecutive starts in restricted nonwinners of two allowance company, and hit the board five times. She was a prominent third traveling nine furlongs on the grass Oct. 9, when she earned a career-high 66 Beyer Speed Figure.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Golden Ridge, who will be looking to parlay an impressive maiden victory into a major double in the June 24 Queen’s Plate, breezed five furlongs in 59.40 seconds here Wednesday morning.
Luis Contreras, who has ridden Golden Ridge in each of his three career starts, was aboard for the workout that was more than two seconds faster than the second-ranked move at the distance.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Commandress looks as good as any in a $25,000 claiming race for 3-year-old fillies that will serve as Friday’s feature at Hastings. The mile and a sixteenth race drew six horses and Commandress is the only horse in the field that has attempted a middle distance. Post time for the first of 7 races is 7:15 p.m. Pacific.
Desert Train improved dramatically in his first start at Northlands Park and if he continues his progress he should be able to stand the jump in class when he runs in a $22,000 claiming race that headlines Friday’s nine-race card. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew eight horses and Desert Train is just one possibility in a competitive race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The claiming game can be a touchy thing among owners, with egos bruised and misunderstandings apt to develop. Ken Ramsey has an endless number of stories in that regard, having experienced it all in more than 40 years in racing. One involves a claiming war he had years ago with Maggi Moss, and the moral of that story was that everyone lived to tell about it.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Ben Perkins Jr. hopes to keep the good times rolling Friday when he sends out Greatful Heir in the $42,000, first-level allowance feature for filly and mare turf sprinters at Monmouth Park.
Perkins, the leading trainer here in 2000, is coming off a bang-up week at Monmouth in which he saddled four and took home three wins and a second.
The big weekend gave him six wins for the meet, good for a six-way tie for second place and leaving him only one victory behind the leader, Bruce Alexander.
