ELMONT, N.Y. - The razor sharp 4-year-old Jackson Bend made a charge at Uncle Mo with a quarter-mile remaining in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Kelso Handicap and the Belmont Park crowd and the racing world was about to find out exactly what last year’s 2-year-old champion had left.
It turned out he has plenty.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Cape Blanco dug deep to capture a third straight Grade 1 stakes on Saturday, holding off Dean’s Kitten by a nose in the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park.
The Hirsch was the second Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In victory for Cape Blanco, who is assured a spot in the BC Turf.
Indian Jones and Mine Train, a pair of 4-year-old out-of-towners who within their last three starts narrowly missed clearing their second allowance condition, will try to get the job done when they make their Penn National main-track debuts in Tuesday night’s featured third race.
Parx Racing shipper Indian Jones and Mine Train, formerly based in Kentucky with trainer Neil Howard, will break alongside each other in posts 1 and 2 in the second-level optional $25,000 claimer that will be contested at 1 1/16 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It was all class on the grass in the $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational, as Stacelita dispatched five rivals by two decisive lengths despite racing widest around both turns.
MIAMI – Sweet Repent, notable by her absence from last week’s Stage Door Betty Handicap, was back on the work tab here Saturday morning, breezing five furlongs in 1:02 for trainer David Braddy. The work was the first for Sweet Repent since Sept. 1.
Sweet Repent, the talented but fragile mare who has been plagued with foot issues throughout her career, has not started since winning the Nancy’s Glitter Handicap on July 23. The victory was the third in a row for the 5-year-old daughter of Repent since returning from a 10-month layoff in mid-May.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Kitty’s Got Class overcame an awkward break to romp in the $125,000 Victorian Queen Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired 2-year-old fillies on Saturday at Woodbine..
Kitty’s Got Class ($5.70) broke inward from the 1-hole, before dragging jockey Eurico Da Silva to the lead. She proceeded to set fractions of 22.71 and 46.42 seconds, before drawing away on her left lead in the stretch to score by six lengths, in 1:11.20.
Eighttofasttocatch collected his third stakes victory of the season in the Maryland Million Classic, the richest of 11 races for the offspring of Maryland-based stallions on Saturday's 26th annual Jim McKay Maryland Million card at Laurel Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first career stakes win by Broken Dreams in Friday’s $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes at Santa Anita left trainer Tom Proctor a satisfied observer.
“She’s not easy to train,” he said. “She can be a bit rank.”
Proctor had hoped for a day such as Friday through the last year, only to see Broken Dreams finish second or third in three sprint stakes on this circuit. Friday, Broken Dreams benefited from an ideal ride from jockey Garrett Gomez to score a mild upset, returning $13.40.
It’s not merely the sheer number of horses – 14 fillies and mares – that makes Monday’s featured seventh race at Delaware Park a headache for handicappers. There’s also the uncertainty whether the money allowance that is also open to $60,000 claimers will remain as scheduled at 1 1/16 miles on turf or be moved to the main track.
A shift to dirt would clearly benefit the four runners entered for the main track only – Punta Ballena, D Day, All Night Labor, and Lacie Slew.
Garry Simms is feeling good again, and not just because his health has stablilized. The 57-year-old trainer is looking forward to Friday, opening day at Keeneland, where he will run his stable star, Flashy Lassie, in the Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades.
Simms scratched Flashy Lassie as the morning-line favorite from the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies at Turfway Park on Sept. 24 to await the Alcibiades, which will mark the two-turn debut for the speedy filly.
