ELMONT, N.Y. – Stacelita, a ground-saving winner of the Beverly D. in her second U.S. start, will be a clear favorite in the $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Saturday at Belmont Park despite drawing the outside in a field of eight.
The 34th running of Grade 1 Flower Bowl, scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf, is the first of six Grade 1 or Grade 2 stakes on “Super Saturday.” The winner earns an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4.
MIAMI – The 2011 Tropical at Calder meeting opens Saturday and as one might expect the first of the session’s 45 programs features the track’s most valued commodity, 2-year-olds, with the $100,000 Birdonthewire and Cassidy stakes highlighting the card.
Three competitive stakes highlight Saturday’s 10-race, closing-day card at Presque Isle Downs.
Check the Label will be looking for her first victory of the season for trainer Graham Motion in the $100,000 H.B.P.A. Stakes, which drew a field of 11 fillies and mares. A 4-year old, Check the Label won 4 of 8 starts last year, all graded turf stakes.
Earlier this season, Eighttofasttocatch soared to a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure winning the Harrison Johnson Memorial, only to regress to a 57 when he returned nine weeks later in the Grade 2 Dixie on turf.
So skeptical handicappers must be wondering what awaits Eighttofasttocatch when he comes back just three weeks after posting a 100 Beyer for his win in the Japan Racing Association as the 7-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Maryland Million Classic.
ANDERSON, Ind. – Shackleford has been in this situation before, and what followed was very good.
Shackleford was badly beaten in the Fountain of Youth in February before going on to prove himself as one of the best horses in the 3-year-old class. Although not all the circumstances are the same coming into the Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park on Saturday, Shackleford once again is entered off a puzzling drubbing, having finished eighth by 22 lengths in his last race, the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It looked like it could be a disastrous season in terms of mutuel handle when Hastings started the 2011 meet in April. The daily average the first couple months of the season was down close to 17 percent compared to 2010. There was a dramatic turn around, however, and according to Hastings general manager Raj Mutti, going into the final weekend the daily average is now up for the year by close to 4 percent.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Fire On Ice, visually the most impressive maiden-winning 2-year-old colt of the Saratoga meet, suffered a condylar fracture of his left hind leg and will miss the remainder of his 2-year-old season and most likely a shot at the spring classics, trainer John Kimmel said Thursday.
Kimmel noticed something wrong with Fire On Ice Thursday morning, one day after he worked five furlongs in 59.94 seconds over Belmont’s main track.
ANDERSON, Ind. – One of the telling signs of a marquee day at any racetrack is the number of stakes on the undercard. And given that eight stakes precede the Indiana Oaks and Indiana Derby on a 12-race program Saturday at Hoosier Park, there can be little doubt about the import the day will carry for Indiana racing.
Six Indiana-bred events, each worth $84,000, precede the $100,000 Mari Hulman George and $100,000 Michael Schaefer, making for an outstanding afternoon of racing. Working backward, here follow brief synopses of each:
When Northlands Park recently cancelled the final three Sundays at the meet, management said it would run extra races if there were enough horses entered. The track lived up to its promise with 13 races carded Saturday, including both divisions of the $50,000 Three and Four Year Old Sales Stakes.
