OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher-trained horses figure prominently in both stakes on Saturday’s 10-race card at Aqueduct, as Katy Now and Love and Pride loom the main speed of the Affectionately, and Heart Butte defends his title in a redrawn Evening Attire that was snowed out last Saturday.
The winner of the last sprint stakes at Turfway Park wasn’t even nominated to the next one, but the runner-up and beaten favorite have returned in what shapes up as an interesting renewal of the $50,000 Forego Stakes on Saturday at the northern Kentucky track.
Uneasy lies the crown atop the head of Killer Graces, who ascended to the throne with her victory in the Hollywood Starlet last month.
That win made Killer Graces the West’s top-ranked female among the 3-year-old class of 2012, but when she makes her first start of the new year on Saturday, in the Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes, she will have to prove that she is as effective at Santa Anita as she was at Hollywood Park, where she won three times and finished second twice in five starts last year.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Though technically Awesome Feather is dropping from a Grade 1 race to a restricted stakes, trainer Chad Brown knows that Saturday’s $300,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Distaff at Gulfstream Park is no easy spot.
Awesome Feather will put her 8-for-8 record on the line against the improving Tiz the Argument, the defending Distaff winner Sweet Repent, and the consistent Delightful Mary in the Distaff, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles over the main track.
PHOENIX – In the last month and a half, Saratoga Boot has won at a mile on the Turf Paradise main track and posted a 14-1 upset in the Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile on the turf here on Jan. 14. He looks to expand his résumé with a sprint victory in Saturday’s $35,000 Swift. The 5 1/2-furlong main-track event drew a field of eight, and is a key prep for the meet’s marquee event, the $75,000 Phoenix Gold Cup on Feb. 18.
Maryland-based colts Costas Fiftieth and The Camden Comet have run some powerful races out of state, combining for three victories by a collective margin of 22 3/4 lengths. Saturday, the two colts will get to strut their stuff at their home track of Laurel Park while stepping up to stakes company for the $100,000 Dancing Count.
The six-furlong Dancing Count, the first stakes of the winter meet at Laurel, drew an evenly matched field of seven 3-year-olds.
Though trainer Tony Dutrow canceled a Wednesday morning workout for Grace Hall, he said the Grade 1 winner remains on course to make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $250,000 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 25.
Dutrow pushed the work back from Wednesday to Thursday due to wet track conditions at Palm Meadows caused by overnight rains.
Frumious, winner of the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes last Saturday, is a candidate for the $2 million Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 31.
“We haven’t made a solid plan, but we’re thinking about going to Dubai,” trainer Jeff Bonde said Wednesday. “It’s probably a good chance he’d go.”
Owned by George and Mary Clare Schmitt, Frumious has won 6 of 15 starts and $259,192. The Palos Verdes was his first stakes win.
Zagora, who gave trainer Chad Brown his first Grade 1 winner in last year’s Diana at Saratoga, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 4.
Zagora has not run since finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Canadian at Woodbine last Sept. 18.
“She got banged around pretty good in the race, needed a little time afterwards,’’ Brown said. “We freshened her up, pointed to this year. She’s come around nicely, a little quicker than I thought.”
