OZONE PARK, N.Y. – All eyes will be on Boys At Tosconova on Friday, when last year’s Hopeful winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up makes his second start back from a layoff in a nonwinners-of-three-lifetime allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Whether they are returning from lengthy layoffs or ran poorly in their last starts, all five of the starters in Friday’s $60,000 Yo Eleven Stakes at Hollywood Park could do with a win to boost their careers.
The restricted stakes is run over 7 1/2 furlongs, and limited to horses who have not won a first-place prize of $60,000 or more in 2011. All five of the runners – El Gato Malo, Golden Itiz, Racing Aptitude, Square Eddie, and Tweebster – have started this year in races worth much more than that to the winner.
For the first time since 2008, the average all-sources handle declined at Delaware Park. The 101-day meet ended last Saturday with an average all-sources handle per day of $1,483,786, down 7 percent from the 2010 daily average of $1,602,401.
“We had been very fortunate to post handle gains in 2009 and 2010 even though we were faced with increased competition and the challenges of a slow economy,” said John Mooney, the track’s executive director of racing. “Faced with even more competition and the still sluggish economy, we were not surprised by the decrease in handle this year.”
Sword Trick might be stepping up in both class and distance for Friday night’s $100,000 Clever Trevor at Remington Park, but he still is the one to beat in the seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds. Sword Trick was a romping winner of a restricted stakes in his last start, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 92 that he earned is the best career number in the Clever Trevor.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The classy U.S. invader Eagle Poise is among a diverse field of eight in the $89,400 prep for the Grade 3 Valedictory Stakes at Woodbine Friday. The 1 5/8-mile allowance also attracted champion Eye of the Leopard, along with the popular gelding Helicopter.
Eagle Poise is winless since he romped home on top by eight lengths in the 2009 Valedictory prep. He went on to finish second to Cloudy’s Knight in the 1 3/4-mile Valedictory itself.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Making his first start since the Belmont Stakes, Mucho Macho Man ($4.90) returned in a big way at Aqueduct on Wednesday, winning a second-level allowance by 5 3/4 lengths under a hand ride.
Breaking to the lead out of the chute under Ramon Dominguez, Mucho Macho Man set fractions of 23.32, 46.32 and 1:09.86 while chased by 7-5 favorite Southern Ridge, easily shrugged that rival off through upper stretch and widened his lead without need of encouragement.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The 37th Sovereign Awards ceremony, honoring the outstanding performers in Canadian racing and breeding for 2011, will be held at Woodbine on Thursday, April 5, 2012.
The date for the gala, which falls one day before the opening of the 2012 Woodbine meeting, was announced on Wednesday by the Jockey Club of Canada.
The JCC experimented with the timing and location, which is the third floor of the grandstand, for the first time this past April and the event was deemed to have been a success.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – This being 11-11-11, there is no 11 in the 11th for hunch bettors to rely on Friday at Churchill Downs. Fundamental handicapping, mixed in with old-fashioned racing luck, will have to suffice for players intent on getting a profitable head start on their weekend, and there seems to be plenty of good opportunities.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Court of the Realm appeared to have as much upside as any horse on the grounds when he began his 4-year-old campaign here at Woodbine this past spring. On Saturday, Court of the Realm will be looking to regain some lost luster in the Grade 2, $150,000 Autumn, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and upward.
It’s unlikely that any stakes at the current Golden Gate meet will prove more exciting than Saturday’s Golden Gate Fields Debutante, won by a nose by Lady of Fifty over Power of Nine.
Even winning trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said, “That was a lucky bob there.”
