LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When Todd Pletcher put Uncle Mo on a van bound for a farm in Lexington the morning of May 9, two days after the Kentucky Derby was run, the multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer didn’t know if he would see his champion colt again.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Kentucky shipper La Gran Bailadora stands out in Saturday’s $175,000 Maple Leaf Stakes.
La Gran Bailadora, trained by Mike Maker, has come a long way since beginning the year with an optional-claiming score at Turfway, and she should love the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Maple Leaf. She came from last in a seven-horse field to capture the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Distaff in her nest-to-last start at Turfway.
Just call him Mr. Versatile.
Imco Spirit holds Zia Park’s track record for both six furlongs and 1 1/8 miles and on Saturday he will be racing somewhere in between those distances in the $55,000 Veteran.
The Veteran, at a 1 1/16 miles, is Zia’s prep for the $200,000 Distance Championship Handicap on Dec. 4.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Medaglia d'Amour will be scratched from the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic on Friday after coming down with a temperature of 102 degrees on Thursday morning, trainer Ben Cecil said.
"She had a high temperature this morning and coughed a few times. We didn't train her, and obviously we can't run tomorrow," Cecil said.
Medaglia d'Amour was a longshot in the Ladies' Classic, 30-1 on the morning line of Mike Battaglia of Churchill Downs. She drew post 9 in the field of 10, so Super Espresso, who was in post 10, will come in one slot.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There has been some shuffling to the field for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Longshot Gung Ho, trained by Mike Maker, was declared out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Thursday morning by co-owner Ken Ramsey due to hind-end soreness, clearing the way for the race’s lone also-eligible, Tequila Factor, to draw into the field.
“When I checked him this morning he was off in the rear end,” Ramsey said of Gung Ho. “They’ve done some X-rays, no broken bones or anything.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – John Johny Jak was never seriously considered for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs.
He was third behind two entrants in that race – Jeranimo and Mr. Commons – in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile, but John Johny’s Jak’s performance did not justify a trip to Kentucky in the mind of trainer Kristin Mulhall.
Mulhall has chosen the $250,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park on Nov. 26 as John Johny Jak’s big race for late fall. To get there, she says John Johny Jak must start in Saturday’s $65,000 Lure Stakes at Santa Anita.
The connections of some of the seven 2-year-old fillies entered in Saturday’s $50,000 Golden Gate Debutante may be looking toward upcoming two-turn stakes for the division, the Corte Madera on Dec. 3 and the California Oaks on Jan. 1. But trainer Lloyd Mason isn’t thinking that far ahead with Power of Nine.
Power of Nine is the only stakes winner in the field for the six-furlong Tapeta race, having won the six-furlong Wine Country Debutante at Santa Rosa on Aug. 6.
“We’re trying to do what works,” said Mason. “She’s won a stakes before sprinting.
Rallying Cry and Colonel Courtney shipped down from Hastings Park and proved tough to beat as they finished first and second in division one of Leg One of the McFadden Memorial Sprint Claiming Series on Wednesday. Sent off as a slight 3/2 favorite, Rallying Cry came from just off the pace under jockey Joe Crispin. As the field came into the stretch, Colonel Courtney came up alongside Smoken Sham who turned for home with a tepid lead. Rallying Cry was just in behind Colonel Courtney and they both began to inch away down the lane as Rallying Cry battled to a neck victory. Both Rallying Cr
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One year ago, Larry Jones was not even training, let alone training Havre de Grace. Six months ago, Uncle Mo was so sick he had to miss the Kentucky Derby, and it was far from certain he would ever race again.
