Based on the brief period Gilhooly’s Super has been in Howard Wolfendale’s barn, the 3-year-old filly seems to relish racing on short rest. Moving up in class to a first-level allowance just seven days after she was claimed on behalf of Robert Cole Jr. for $25,000, Gilhooly’s Super responded with a 6 3/4-length victory and a career-best 79 Beyer Speed Figure.
After regressing in her next outing, Gilhooly’s Super comes back in nine days in Saturday’s $50,000 Squan Song at Laurel Park.
The talented mares Beware of the Bop and Silver Heart, both coming off daylight victories as favorites on last month’s West Virginia Breeders’ Classic program, renew their rivalry in Saturday night’s $50,000 My Sister Pearl Stakes for West Virginia-bred fillies and mares at Charles Town.
The 5-year-old Beware of the Bop, 13 for 25 lifetime locally, remains at the same 1 1/8-mile distance as she ran to score a wire-to-wire, 3 3/4-length victory as the 7-5 choice in the Oct. 15 Distaff.
Although five of the nine entrants in Saturday’s $50,000 Golden Nugget at Golden Gate Fields have raced only once, the field has come up unusually strong.
The six-furlong stakes on Tapeta for 2-year-olds is the first of a series of races leading to next spring’s Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby. The field includes two Southern California maiden special weight debut winners, a stakes winner, and two stakes-placed runners.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Dropping from Grade 1 stakes, Emerald Beech and defending titlist Mekong Melody head a field of eight fillies and mares in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct.
The 55th running of the Long Island is the last graded turf race in New York this year. It is carded as race 8, and the third leg of a $250,000 guaranteed late pick four that begins with race 6 at 2:48 p.m. Eastern.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — City Wolf, who went from his maiden win to a graded stakes score in the span of just five months, seeks his fifth straight victory Saturday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Autumn Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Grace Phil assumed control near the eighth pole before edging away to take the $125,000 South Ocean Stakes on Wednesday night at Woodbine.
Consecutive set a moderate pace in the1 1/16-mile test for Ontario-sired juvenile fillies while being tracked by Grace Phil. Favored Future Surprise loomed into a stalking position at the half-mile pole before tiring, and Grace Phil made her move on the far turn en route to a two-length tally over a closing Memories Last Love. A fading Consecutive held off Future Surprise for third in the seven-horse field.
Although ontrack business declined, Thistledown had a gain in all-sources handle for its 120-day meet that ended Nov. 5. The meeting averaged $664,400 daily overall on its live races in 2011, an increase of 10 percent over 2010 business.
A 5.7 percent drop in ontrack handle, which averaged $59,707 daily, was more than offset by an 11.9-percent gain in offtrack handle on Thistledown races, an average of $604,693.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Nearly half of the Breeders' Cup events run here last weekend - 7 of 15 - were won by connections with longstanding ties to Churchill. Trainers Bill Mott and Steve Asmussen both sent out two winners, while trainers Dale Romans and Mike Maker both had one win apiece, as did owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Groupie Doll acquitted herself quite well on dirt in winning the Gardenia Handicap at Ellis Park and running second in the Charles Town Oaks, then again with her near-miss on Polytrack in the Raven Run at Keeneland.
Now it’s a shot at turf for Groupie Doll, the new star of the Buff Bradley stable, as the 3-year-old filly is part of a rugged group set to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $175,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes. Groupie Doll, with Greta Kuntzweiler to ride, was assigned post 3 in a field of 12 entered in the 1 1/16-mile grass fixture.
Headed by last year’s winner, Mekong Melody, and Glens Falls winner Emerald Beech, a field of eight fillies and mares was drawn for Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Long Island Handicap, which is the final graded turf stakes of the year in New York.
