ETOBICOKE, Ontario—Mark Casse-trained runners swept the first three positions in Sunday’s $201,200 Grey Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds at Woodbine.
Prospective ($18.50) rallied five-wide from fourth to capture the Grade 3 Grey by two lengths over Lockout, while Bluedacious closed belatedly to edge out favored Excaper for third.
Ruler of Dubai, who finished third in the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes for 2-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 1, will not start in the BC Juvenile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, trainer George Papaprodromou said on Sunday.
Papaprodromou said Ruler of Dubai is being considered for the $100,000 California Cup Juvenile for statebreds on Oct. 29 or the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot on Nov. 16. Both races are over 1 1/16 miles.
“The Breeders’ Cup is out of the question,” Papaprodromou said. “My mind is on the Delta race or the Cal Cup. It might be both, but I don’t think so.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Compared with last year, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will go into the Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4-5 as just another rider with high hopes for the rich races.
Last year, Smith was at center stage, riding Zenyatta in the BC Classic in an attempt to extend the famous mare’s unbeaten streak to 20 races in her final career start. She finished second to Blame by a head, a setback that left Smith in tears.
This year, there will not be as much pressure.
Eleven months ago, Rule by Night ran a race at Aqueduct that made one think he could be developing into a sprint star.
In beating Sunrise Smarty that day by 9 1/4 lengths over the main track, Rule by Night ran seven furlongs in 1:20.67, just .64 of a second off the track record set by Artax.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Steve Asmussen left New York for Louisville on Sunday afternoon having welcomed two new Grade 1 winners to his barn and welcoming back a former Grade 3 stakes winner whom he thinks has Grade 1 potential.
Asmussen went 4 for 4 at Belmont Park on Saturday, highlighted by My Miss Aurelia’s dominant victory in the race 1 Frizette. She punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs.
ELMONT, N.Y. - On a pristine October morning, that felt more like spring than fall, Winter Memories worked five furlongs in 1:01.45 over Belmont Park’s inner turf course Sunday in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
Whenever trainer Michael Matz gets a good young horse, the comparisons to his 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro are inevitable.
Sunday morning, the day after Union Rags overcome significant trouble to win the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park, Matz, without prompting, brought up Barbaro’s name when discussing Union Rags.
“The thing with Barbaro was he had such acceleration; when you asked him to accelerate he was three lengths on you,’’ Matz said. “I think this horse has the ability to do that also.
MIAMI- Despite rainfall in excess of six inches over the local area within the past 24 hours, Big Drama was able to get back to work on Sunday morning, breezing an easy half-mile in 49.40 seconds over a sloppy track at Calder. The work was the first for the reigning Eclipse Award winner since he was scratched from the Grade 1 Vosburgh eight days ago due to a temperature.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Jeranimo may have joined the field for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5 with a surprise win in Saturday’s $150,000 Oak Tree Mile at Santa Anita.
Ending a six-race losing streak dating back to last December, Jeranimo ($11.20) raced on or near the lead throughout the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile and held off a late threat from 4-5 favorite Mr. Commons to win by three-quarters of a length.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Mike Maker still was a trainer on the rise when he won the 2004 Hawthorne Gold Cup with Freefourinternet, a 27-1 shot. These days, Maker-trained horses pop up in major stakes races all over the country, and Headache’s win Saturday in the 2011 Gold Cup came as much less of a surprise. Wearing down Where’s Sterling and Cease in a slogging war of attrition, Headache won the Grade 2, $500,000 Gold Cup by a half-length, paying $12.60 as the fourth choice in a field of 10.
