Seven horses who won races on last year’s Maryland Million, led by Breeders’ Cup prospect Ben’s Cat in the Turf Sprint, highlight the 11-race lineup drawn Wednesday for Saturday’s 26th annual Jim McKay Maryland Million at Laurel Park.
The event, worth a collective $1.05 million, begins at 12:35 p.m. Eastern and consists of nine stakes, plus two starter handicaps. All 11 races are restricted to the offspring of Maryland-based stalions.
Charlie Lopresti had what seemed like a career year in 2010. He won six stakes races, one more than he’d won in his first 17 years as a trainer, and three of those stakes were graded, triple Lopresti’s previous total. The 25 wins for the year was a career best, and Lopresti’s horses earned more than $1 million, roughly double his previous high.
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Scooter Dickey believes Flat Out has already done enough to show he belongs in the Breeders’ Cup Classic field. So while he would like his 5-year-old horse to improve upon runner-up finishes in both the Whitney Handicap and Woodward Stakes at Saratoga when he runs in Saturday’s $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, a victory is not paramount.
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Racing action on both sides of the country and both sides of the Atlantic Ocean this week should help determine the composition of the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
At Belmont, Cape Blanco makes his third straight U.S. start, and if the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic produces a performance similar to what Cape Blanco delivered winning the Man o’ War and Arlington Million in his first two trans-Atlantic trips, Cape Blanco could be favored in the Turf, regardless of what other horses might ship from Europe.
Big Drama vaulted to the top of the nation’s sprint division following his victory in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and despite having made just two starts over the next 11 months, the champ remains at the head of the class heading into Saturday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh, his final prep for a defense of his title in the 2011 Sprint on Nov. 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though she has won four of six starts, Streaker has floundered when it has mattered most. Following the second layoff of her career, Streaker returns in Friday’s $60,000 Dispute Stakes hoping to rejuvenate a once-promising career.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita buried the main attraction Friday way up in race 3. It is too bad, because the Grade 3 Sen. Ken Maddy is a good race with Breeders’ Cup ramifications, and would have been a terrific feature positioned in the traditional race-8 slot.
Instead the Maddy goes early, before the pick-six sequence, which begins a race later. The placement is odd. Unzip Me deserves favoritism, but she is not a lock against a tough rival in Tanda.
Santa Anita director of racing Mike Harlow expected to take heat for scheduling the Maddy early.
If you want a glimpse of the three Win and You’re In winners for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, you’d better look elsewhere during the next week or so, because it’s unlikely any of them will be at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.
Ben’s Cat is “in” after taking the Turf Monster at Parx Racing on Labor Day. The only problem is he’s not BC nominated, and so his legendary trainer, King Leatherbury, is openly soliciting backers.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The second-place finish by Self Preservation in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3 has left trainer Ben Cecil expecting a winning performance in Sunday’s $250,000 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita.
The Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes, run over 1 1/16 miles for 2-year-old fillies, is a vital West Coast prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.
Perhaps more than any other Breeders’ Cup event, the Marathon does not have a definitive prep race. There is good reason for that. For it to be a real prep, a prelude to the 1 3/4-mile Marathon, it would have to be run at a distance of at least 11 furlongs. In today’s game, the horse or horseman who would be willing to run in a prep race that far on dirt four or five weeks before a race this far would be few and far between.
