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.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Greg Sacco will be a very busy fellow on Sunday with seven horses entered for the 12-race card at Monmouth Park.
“Some of the races were in the condition book and some were extras,” Sacco said. “They were just races that were there for us. We’re not pushing any spots. We’re not putting any square pegs into round holes.”
Of the seven, Sacco is most enthused about Voodoo Charm in the 11th race, a first-level allowance sprint.
ETOBICOKE, Ontaro – It may only be a matter of time before Mark Casse, Woodbine’s perennial leading trainer, wins a Queen’s Plate, and he will saddle three horses Sunday in the 153rd running of the $1 million fixture.
Casse’s trio of Dixie Strike, Golden Ridge, and Making Amends will have to contend with favorites River Rush and Strait of Dover in the 10-furlong event, which drew 14 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
The Plate is the 10th race on a blockbuster 12-race card, which includes five other stakes. Post time for the first race is noon Eastern, one hour earlier than usual.
The first seven-figure futurity of 2012 at Los Alamitos – the $1,041,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity – will be run on Sunday after a tumultuous two weeks since the time trials that included the seizure of three qualifiers by federal marshals.
On June 12, the FBI announced a series of arrests throughout the Southwest alleging that two groups of owners – Bonanza Racing and Tremor Enterprises – were laundering money through Quarter Horse racing on behalf of the notorious Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he has only a maiden win to his credit, Brigand would appear to be a standout against six rivals in Sunday’s $125,000 Mike Lee Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Belmont Park.
However, Bob Baffert, trainer of Brigand, is considering bypassing the Mike Lee in favor of a start in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Dwyer Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race that is not coming up particularly strong.
[bc_video_id:255312:]INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Before boarding a plane to begin riding next week in New York, jockey Joel Rosario will get on a filly bound for the winner’s circle on Sunday at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Capital Plan is the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the Grade 3 Beverly Hills Handicap, a turf race for fillies and mares that would be an appropriate Rosario farewell. Her trainer is Jerry Hollendorfer, who gave Rosario his first win in a graded turf stakes four years ago at Hollywood Park – Misty Ocean in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Handicap on June 7, 2008.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – While his big sister, Wasted Tears, hangs out in Kentucky awaiting the birth of her first foal next January, Que Deseo will keep the family’s racing business going in the featured seventh race at Lone Star Park on Sunday. He will start as one of the top choices in a second-level allowance at a mile on turf, the same Lone Star surface over which Wasted Tears won three consecutive runnings of the Grade 3 Ouija Board Distaff from 2009-11.
ALTOONA, Iowa – Jockey Ken Shino broke his right hand during training hours at Prairie Meadows on Tuesday morning when a 2-year-old trained by Kelly Von Hemel got fractious and spun around behind the starting gate. According to Shino’s agent, Cookie Kerrigan, “Ken said the young horse was spooked by a loose horse running around on the track and he came off landing wrong on the hand. Ever since, the swelling has been severe and Ken is scheduled to see an orthopedic surgeon today.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The versatile Gypsy Ring goes back to the grass Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 2, $200,000 Highlander Stakes. There is an extra $40,000 for eligible Ontario-breds in the six-furlong sprint on the Queen’s Plate undercard, and Gypsy Ring qualifies for the bonus.
Gypsy Ring is owned and trained by his breeder, Paul Buttigieg. He captured both of his starts at the meet in Ontario-sired stakes, the five-furlong Debut and six-furlong New Providence.
An old nemesis awaits Marshal Marini when he makes his comeback Sunday in the $50,000 Livermore Valley Wines Stakes at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif.
Marshal Marini will make his first start as a 3-year-old in the six-furlong stakes. In his last start on Dec. 10, Marshal Marini opened a lead in the stretch in the one-mile Gold Rush before late-running Jerry Hollendorfer trainee Russian Greek edged him in a photo.
Marshal Marini has 2 wins, 2 seconds, and 2 thirds in 6 career starts, placing in all four stakes in which he has run.
