Wed, 11/23/2011 - 14:19

Golden Gate Fields: All American matches familiar rivals

Marcel Langevin/Vassar Photography
Kevin Krigger, aboard Our Nautique, leads the 6-year-old gelding to a wire-to-wire win in the San Francisco Mile.

Whose turn will it be to win when six runners line up in Friday’s Grade 3, $100,000 All American at Golden Gate Fields?

The top four contenders have taken turns beating each other, and the other two should be ready for improved efforts in the 1 1/8-mile Tapeta event.

The millionaire Bold Chieftain, Our Nautique, Uh Oh Bango, and Dunmore East have been trading decisions this year. Highway Bandit is making his second start off a layoff, and Skipshot has yet to reach his Grade 2-winning form of 2010.

Wed, 11/23/2011 - 14:14

Fair Grounds: Suntracer can emerge in Woodchopper

Four-Footed Fotos
Suntracer was scratched from the Commonwealth Stakes at Churchill Downs after rain soaked the turf course there.

NEW ORLEANS – Suntracer has raced in the shadow of top 3-year-old grass horses like Treasure Beach and, especially, Willcox Inn much of this season, and the $75,000 Woodchopper Stakes on Friday at Fair Grounds might let the light shine on Suntracer.

Second to Willcox Inn in three six-figure 3-year-old turf stakes this year, and eighth behind winning Treasure Beach in the Grade 1 Secretariat, Suntracer gets class relief and looks like a top contender in Friday’s feature at Fair Grounds.

Wed, 11/23/2011 - 13:43

Churchill Downs: Clark has championship implications

Tom Keyser
Flat Out, with Alex Solis riding, wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Not many American stakes have been run continuously since 1875. The Clark Handicap is one of those proud and few. A fall staple for generations, the Clark has ebbed and flowed in terms of importance and prestige, with recent renewals being among the stronger ones.

Wed, 11/23/2011 - 12:45

Hollywood Park: Katie’s Ten tries turf, two turns in Miesque Stakes

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ideally, the 2-year-old filly Katie’s Ten would have her first start around two turns in an allowance race, giving her a chance to build confidence before being tried in stakes over a distance.

That was trainer John Sadler’s hope, until such a race failed to materialize. Instead, Katie’s Ten makes her two-turn debut in Friday’s $100,000 Miesque Stakes over a mile on turf at Hollywood Park.

Wed, 11/23/2011 - 12:40

Los Alamitos: Last to Fire fastest qualifier once again

For the second time this fall, Last to Fire is the fastest qualifier to a seven-figure futurity at Los Alamitos. For the second time this fall, trainer Juan Aleman needs Last to Fire to reproduce his trial win on the night of a final.

After setting the fastest qualifying time for the Golden State Million Futurity trials in October, Last to Fire finished third in the final. Sunday at Los Alamitos, Last to Fire had the fastest qualifying time – 400 yards in 19.724 seconds – for the $2,236,600 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 11.

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 17:00

Yavapai Downs ordered to be sold as part of bankruptcy proceedings

Yavapai Downs, which was forced to cancel its annual summer meet this year due to a bevy of financial issues, has been ordered sold by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge as part of the proposed Chapter 7 liquidation plan. The Arizona track, located in Prescott Valley about 90 minutes north of Phoenix, is made up of eight parcels of approximately 125 acres. It has been assessed at over $18 million.

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 16:42

Fair Grounds: Napravnik back, ready for big meet

Barbara D. Livingston
Rosie Napravnik won the leading rider crown at Fair Grounds last year with 110 wins.

NEW ORLEANS - Rosie Napravnik broke her left wrist in a spill July 7, and she made her comeback from that injury Oct. 15 at Delaware Park, riding three weeks there upon her return. But Napravnik’s main late-season goal was Fair Grounds – and no wonder.

Napravnik during the 2010-11 meet became the first woman to win a riding title at Fair Grounds, coasting to the leading rider crown with 110 wins, 31 more than the next-highest total.

“I’m really excited to be back,” Napravnik said. “I keep saying that if I do half as well this year I’ll be okay.”

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 16:38

Fair Grounds: Mambo Galliano tries for Thanksgiving repeat without a prep race

NEW ORLEANS – Mambo Galliano won the 2010 Thanksgiving Handicap in his first start after a four-month layoff, a performance that proved two things: Mambo Galliano can fire fresh, and Mambo Galliano likes the Fair Grounds main track.

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 16:35

Jones happy to be back on Fair Grounds main track

Barbara D. Livingston
Larry Jones is based at Fair Grounds for the first time since 2008-09.

NEW ORLEANS – Larry Jones has not come back to the Fair Grounds for the first time since the 2008-09 season for Mardi Gras, shrimp po-boys, or second-line parades. Jones is back because he loves the Fair Grounds dirt track. It makes his horses feel good, and it makes him feel good.

“It was getting a little uncomfortable for me riding, and I thought I was getting old earlier this year,” Jones said Tuesday morning outside his office in barn 3, same place he was housed during his two previous meets here. “Now, I’m getting on 10, 11 a day, and I feel great.”

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 16:29

Aqueduct: Pletcher sorting out his holiday weekend runners

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher appears to be taking the strengths-in-numbers approach to this weekend’s graded stakes at Aqueduct.

Though he is likely to scratch all three of his starters out of Thursday’s Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap, Pletcher is expected to have multiple-horse entries in three of Saturday’s four graded stakes races.

Pletcher said Tuesday he planned to enter both Calibrachoa and Caixa Eletronica in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile. Those two, along with Driven by Success, were also entered in Thursday’s Fall Highweight at six furlongs.