Western Woods and Espresso Springs guarantee an honest pace in a $30,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Northlands Park.
The six-furlong sprint drew eight horses and there isn’t much doubt regarding how the race will unfold. Western Woods and Expresso Springs both want the lead and are in sharp form. Whether either will be able to last the whole way is another question.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – The trainer John Simms has gotten off to a solid beginning as the Fort Erie meet has unfolded. Simms has four wins from 11 starts, a very creditable 36 percent rate.
“We took our time and picked our spots,” said Simms, “and I am very pleased with the results so far. We wintered down in Tampa and our horses were well conditioned in the Florida sunshine. On returning, we eased our way back into training, giving the horses plenty of time to reacclimatize and to relax and enjoy this great surface, the best in North America in my opinion.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tu Endie Wei, Canada’s champion juvenile filly of 2011, tries turf for the first time in Sunday’s Alywow.
The $100,000 Alywow, an open 6 1/2-furlong overnight stakes for 3-year-old fillies, attracted a field of nine including five from the barn of Mark Casse.
Trained by Reade Baker, Tu Endie Wei is coming off a second-place finish here in the 1 1/16-mile Selene Stakes where she failed to contain the late run of Woodbine Oaks favorite Dixie Strike.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It’s crunch time for Queen’s Plate nominees in Sunday’s $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine, and Classic Bryce drops in class in the nine-furlong route for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Classic Bryce met open stakes company traveling 1 1/16 miles in both of his outings at the meet. Following a winter vacation, he rallied for second in the April 21 Wando, in which victorious Incredicat had everything his own way on the lead.
Three weeks later in the Marine, Classic Bryce came wide from midpack to finish a distant second to upstart Strait of Dover.
Doe, who was claimed for $40,000 by trainer Wayne Cole on behalf of owner Carmen Muccio Jr. on March 10, scored a front-running two-length victory in Thursday’s $50,000 Beautiful Day Stakes at Delaware Park.
Ridden by Malcolm Franklin, the 3-year-old Doe ($9.80) ran six furlongs in 1:10.48 over a fast track as the second choice in a field of five.
Mikey Likes It, the 1-2 favorite, finished second, 2 3/4 lengths in front of Defy Gravity.
Doe, now 5 for 16 lifetime, ran second against males as a 2-year-old in the Dover at Delaware and the Charles Town Juvenile.
AUBURN, Wash. – It will be a Mile Day of sorts Saturday at Emerald Downs, with five of the nine races to be contested over eight furlongs. A couple of the leading contenders in the feature race – a second-level $32,000 optional claimer – could have designs on an even bigger mile – the Grade 3 Longacres Mile in August.
Santa Anita is conducting a contest to name one of the stakes races for its upcoming autumn meeting.
Last year, the first in which Santa Anita operated a fall meeting, the track purchased the naming rights of stakes that had been run in past years when the Oak Tree Racing Association conducted the meeting.
No such financial arrangement has been reached for this year’s meeting, which will lead to new names for “a number” of stakes during the meeting which runs from Sept. 28 to Nov. 4, according to a statement released by the track.
MIAMI – Officials at Calder Racecourse announced Thursday that they will begin charging a fee of $5 per day per room (double occupancy) to residents currently residing in dormitory or cottage rooms located within the track’s barn area. The fee will go into effect as of June 14.
Calder also informed dorm residents and local horsemen Thursday that the rooms located above Barns 75 and 79 as well as the stalls within those barns have been deemed no longer suitable for occupancy and as a result must be vacated as of July 15 for “future demolition.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. believes Redeemed is probably a cut below the best in the handicap division.
In seeking spots for the multiple stakes winner, Dutrow has landed on next Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Brooklyn Handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park.
Redeemed, a son of Include, has won three stakes at 1 1/8 miles, including last year’s Grade 3 Discovery at Aqueduct and the off-the-turf Milesius Stakes by 9 3/4 lengths here May 3.
