ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Redwood, who finished a close third in last year’s Canadian International, has been made the 4-1 favorite in a field of 16 for Sunday’s running of the Grade 1 turf race for 3-year-olds and upward.
The field for the 1 1/2-mile Canadian International, announced here Thursday at a ceremonial draw in the trackside tent, is dominated by European interests with nine overseas shippers in the lineup.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario —The E.P. Taylor Stakes has almost always fared well in terms of European interest and Sunday’s running will be no exception.
Eight fillies and mares have been flown in for the E.P. Taylor, a 1 1/4-mile turf race which offers Grade 1 status and a purse of $1 million.
And all are new equine faces on the Woodbine scene as the only returnee from last year’s E.P. Taylor is locally-based Miss Keller, who thwarted a European sweep with her second-place finish.
Several of the European connections have made their mark in E.P. Taylors past, however.
Saturday’s nine-race card at Delaware Park features four $75,000 stakes for Delaware-certified horses, but the real star attraction is Rosie Napravnik, who is scheduled to resume riding for the first time since she was injured in a spill three months ago.
Napravnik, 23, was atop the jockey standings with 36 wins in her quest to repeat as Delaware’s leading rider when her mount Naseeb broke down during the running of a five-furlong turf sprint July 7. Napravnik fractured her left wrist for the second time in the spill, her fifth major injury since she began her career in 2005.
Laurel Park will celebrate 100 years of live racing Saturday with a giveaway and live entertainment during a 10-race card highlighted by the $75,000 Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
Laurel opened on Oct. 2, 1911 under the auspices of the Laurel Four Corners County Fair. Among the famous horses to have won races at the central Maryland track are Triple Crown winners Sir Barton, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Secretariat, and Affirmed.
Two recent subpar comeback races following a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap last February knocked Aspenglow out of consideration for a title defense in the $250,000 West Virginia Cavada Breeders’ Classic for fillies and mares, the richest of eight stakes supporting the featured $500,000 Classic on Saturday night’s 25th annual West Virginia Breeders’ Classic card at Charles Town. But owner Nancy Terhune and trainer Gary Capuano have a capable back-up in Aspenglow’s older half-sister Silver Heart.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Malcolm Pierce has two nice prospects for Saturday’s $250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes at Woodbine – Aldous Snow and Dead On. The course condition could dictate whether he runs both Sam-Son Farm homebreds in the 1 1/16-mile route for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds, which Sam-Son has won a record 13 times.
The last three winners of the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic – Sea Rescue, Russell Road, and Ghostly Thunder – are back in quest of the $500,000 purse up for grabs in the richest race on Saturday night’s 25th annual program devoted to West Virginia-breds at Charles Town.
The Classic goes as race 8 on an all-stakes, nine-race card worth a collective $1.3 million, with post time set for 10:45 p.m. Eastern.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Secret Circle the winner of the Jack Goodman Stakes at Santa Anita on Monday, will be considered for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile over 1 1/16 miles as well as the original goal of the BC Juvenile Sprint over six furlongs, trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday.
“I’ve got to think about stretching him out,” Baffert said. “That was pretty amazing what he did the other day.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - The three-time stakes winner Comma to the Top has rejoined trainer Peter Miller’s stable and is expected to return to racing this fall.
Unraced since finishing 19th in the Kentucky Derby, Comma to the Top had a bone chip removed from an ankle last spring. Owned by a partnership, Comma to the Top has won 6 of 14 starts and $778,600. He won three consecutive stakes last fall at Hollywood Park – the Real Quiet Stakes, Grade 3 Generous Stakes on turf and Grade 1 CashCall Futurity – and was later second to Midnight Interlude in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April.
Strike the Moon, winner of the $400,000 Charles Town Oaks last month in her most recent outing, likely will bypass the BC Filly and Mare Sprint in favor of the Grade 2, $250,000 Raven Run at Keeneland next Saturday, Oct. 22, trainer Mike Trombetta said this week from Laurel Park in Maryland.
