In an era when many top runners are retired after their 3-year-old years, Bold Chieftain is still racing at the stakes level as an 8-year-old, and a victory in Friday’s Grade 3 All American at Golden Gate Fields would put a cap on a remarkable career.
The $100,000 All American will either be Bold Chieftain’s penultimate or final start before he begins his stud career at Ellen Jackson’s Victory Rose Thoroughbreds in 2012.
MIAMI – The filly and mare turf division was a wide open one this year as evidenced by longshot Perfect Shirl’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup and the lingering uncertainty over who will end up with the Eclipse Award in the category.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Miss Scarlett Road gets some big-time class relief in Thursday’s Woodbine headliner, and she might not even be the favorite in the allowance sprint for Ontario-sired 2-year-old fillies.
Miss Scarlett Road was bet down to 2-1 when she debuted in a restricted five-furlong maiden special Oct. 19. After tracking the leaders along the inside, she took control early in the stretch and then drew clear for a three-length triumph while earning a respectable 62 Beyer Speed Figure.
The only tension in Rapid Redux’s record-setting win on a wet Monday night at Mountaineer Racetrack came before the race even began. Balky and lashing out with his hind legs, Rapid Redux declined to be led into his starting stall for the eighth race, where he was the 1-9 favorite and, for a moment, the focal point of the racing world. The starting gate crew, exercising patience, opened the front doors of the stall, and after one more mule kick, Rapid Redux went in.
A West Virginia court has ruled that a group of jockeys who were suspended by the state's racing commission and barred by Charles Town Races had the right to return to the racetrack after an appeals court granted an injunction of the bans.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pretty much all of the 12 or so prospects for the Grade 1 Clark Handicap had their final prerace workouts within the last few days toward the closing-week feature event.
Flat Out, with Alex Solis in to ride, is the 123-pound highweight and likely favorite for the $500,000 Clark on Friday. Scooter Dickey was pleased with how the 5-year-old horse blew out for the 1 1/8-mile race with an easy half-mile breeze early Saturday over a fast Churchill Downs surface. “I didn’t want anything great, but it was great anyway,” said Dickey.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The last six graded stakes of the year in New York will be run this week, beginning with Thursday's Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap, which is the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature.
The 10 entrants include a three-ply entry from Repole Stable and Todd Pletcher, two of which are likely to scratch. John Velazquez is named on top-weighted Calibrachoa (135 pounds) and Caixa Eletronica (134), while Driven by Success finished last in an overnight stakes Sunday.
NEW ORLEANS – Two days does not a successful race meeting make, but looking at the number of horses entered for Friday’s Day 2 of the 2011-2012 Fair Grounds meet is enough to put one in a hopeful mood.
“I think it’s a pretty good card,” Jason Boulet said of Friday’s 11-race program at Fair Grounds, and though Boulet, as the Fair Grounds racing secretary, is paid to keep the faith, his assessment hits the mark.
November 9 - December 18
