Turallure, suddenly a fringe contender for a divisional Eclipse Award after adding the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile to a 2011 victory resume that already included the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch, will not race again until the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill, trainer Charlie Lopresti said Wednesday.
“We’ll just take it easy with him for a bit, then get him ready at Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup,” said Lopresti. “He really ran huge the other day.”
Ready’s Rocket, with Calvin Borel back to ride, appears to be in a good spot in a starter-allowance sprint carded early on a 12-race Friday evening program at Turfway.
Ready’s Rocket, an 8-year-old gelding trained by Tim Glyshaw, might well be the winningest horse on the Kentucky circuit in recent years, having compiled 16 victories at state tracks since 2008, including three this year. He will be favored in the fourth race, a $12,000 starter-allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Bug’s Boy, an 8-year-old gelding who became a stakes winner in his 42nd career start here Sept 5, breezed five furlongs in a bullet 59 seconds under jockey Omar Moreno here Wednesday morning.
“He kind of had a good hold of him the first part,” said John LeBlanc, who trains Bug’s Boy for his wife, Maggie, and son, Douglas. “Bug’s Boy was eager to do something.
“As long as he comes out of it all right, we plan to go to the Overskate.”
The $125,000 Overskate, a seven-furlong race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward, will be run here Wednesday evening.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Charlie’s the Man looked like a prospect for this year’s Queen’s Plate last fall, before things went awry. He finally graduated in his last outing and will be looking to double up in Friday’s Woodbine feature, a 10-furlong allowance worth $70,300.
Charlie’s the Man wound up second in both of his 2-year-old appearances, including the nine-furlong Coronation Futurity. He got a late start to his current campaign, however, and had changed trainers before he bombed in his season opener, going from Roger Attfield to Brian Lynch.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Alpha Bettor ran his best race to date here at Woodbine in the June 12 Victoria Park, an open 1 1/8-mile stakes race for 3-year-olds in which he was beaten a nose as the runner-up to Moonshine Mullin.
On Saturday, Alpha Bettor will return to that distance for the $150,000 Ontario Derby, an open stakes race for 3-year-olds.
The Ontario Derby attracted a solid field of nine, headed by Moonshine Mullin and Pender Harbour, who also has been entered in Saturday’s Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby.
California horses have a successful history in the Kentucky Cup. Class horses such as Silver Charm, Point Given, Captain Steve, and Reraise have had a major impact on the Turfway Park series, although participation from West Coast stables has waned somewhat in recent years, owing primarily to the declining purse structure of the event.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro got off to a slow start to the current meet at Northlands Park but he has been hot lately and goes into the final stretch of the season with 40 wins, one more than Joan Petrowski. Diodoro, who won his first Northlands training title last year, has a couple of live horses entered in a $15,000 claiming race for fillies and mares that will serve as Friday’s feature.
Honorable Lady and Come Home Quick appear to have strong chances of winning the six-furlong sprint that drew six horses and goes as the third race.
Fifteen jockeys and the Jockeys’ Guild western regional manager Darrell Haire met with Golden Gate Fields stewards Sunday to discuss the possibility of reducing the minimum suspension for a riding infraction from three days to two days.
The jockeys suggested to stewards Dennis Nevin, Darrel McHargue, and John Herbuveaux that a two-day suspension is fair with the current three- and four-day race weeks and with smaller fields than in the past.
While many of the 2-year-olds who ran well in the Arlington-Washington Lassie and Futurity here at Arlington on Sept .10 will move on to races at Keeneland, trainer Larry Rivelli has something different in mind for Lassie runner-up Essence of Bubbles. Essence of Bubbles will soon head south to Delta Downs, where she will start Oct. 12 in the $150,000 My Trusty Cat, a two-turn, seven-furlong race that’s a prep for the $500,000 Delta Princess on Nov. 12.
“If she runs one-two in that next race, I’ll run her back in the Delta Princess,” said Rivelli.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Giant Oak, still seeking his first win since the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 5, will make his next start Oct. 8 in the Hawthorne Gold Cup, trainer Chris Block said.
Block, in fact, will have two horses in the $500,000 Gold Cup, since he also intends to start Washington Park Handicap winner Mister Marti Gras in the race. Giant Oak is one of three nationally known horses pointing for the signature race of the Hawthorne season, with Apart and Awesome Gem also expected for the 1 1/4-mile dirt race.
