OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Glass Ceiling, winner of a pair of Grade 3 stakes earlier this year, will likely have one more race before she is to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton auction on Nov. 6, trainer and part-owner Charlton Baker said.
Glass Ceiling is pointing to the $120,000 Pumpkin Pie Stakes on Oct. 29 at Aqueduct, Baker said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Fingal’s Cave, an undefeated New York-bred 3-year-old filly, will step into graded stakes company for the first time when she runs in the Grade 2, $350,000 Raven Run Stakes on Oct. 22 at Keeneland, trainer David Donk said Thursday.
Donk said the chance to keep Fingal’s Cave facing her own age group was a major factor in deciding on the seven-furlong Raven Run over a race such as the Empire Distaff for New York-bred fillies and mares on Oct. 30 at Aqueduct.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Charge It, the star-crossed 3-year-old, suffered another setback and is no longer being pointed to the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 3, trainer Todd Pletcher said this week.
Charge It, unraced since winning the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes by 23 lengths on July 2, has been plagued by foot problems that forced him to miss the Travers in late August and the Pennsylvania Derby in late September. He returned to the work tab on Sept. 27 with the hopes of making it to the Grade 2 Kelso on Oct. 29 at Aqueduct and then the Cigar Mile.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The connections of just seven 3-year-old fillies have accepted invitations to run Saturday in the $600,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, the sixth and last Grade 1 race at the Keeneland fall meet.
Chad Brown, who has won three of the last four runnings of the QE II and a record four overall, will be represented by the uncoupled pair of McKulick and Gina Romantica.
Bolt’s Broad has been disqualified from his victory in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Del Mar on Sept. 9 after jockey Drayden Van Dyke was cited for excessive use of the whip in the race.
In a ruling issued on Monday by Santa Anita stewards Luis Jauregui, Kim Sawyer and Richard Williams, owner Ruis Racing was ordered to forfeit the $60,000 first-place purse, while Van Dyke must forfeit his share of $4,800.
The $60,000 comprises $48,000 for first and a $12,000 bonus paid by the track for winning a maiden special weight race on dirt.
Party Politics, the winner of the Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos in June, and Cyber Attack, second in the Rainbow Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in July, are among the 10 qualifiers for the $1,087,250 Golden State Million Futurity on Oct. 30 after time trials on Sunday.
Cyber Attack, trained by Christopher O’Dell for Connie Rosenthal, ran 400 yards in 19.60 seconds under jockey Eduardo Nicasio to win the 10th of 12 time trials and set the fastest qualifying time.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The whole point of wheeling Nagirroc back in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity was to try and earn a berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 4 at Keeneland. That mission was accomplished when Nagirroc ran down Saratoga Flash to win the Futurity by a head in a blanket finish where the top five finishers were separated by a half-length.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Nest still has one more major objective for this year, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 5, part-owner Mike Repole confirmed Sunday that the likely 3-year-old champion filly will return for a 4-year-old campaign in 2022.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Business has not been booming at the Belmont at the Big A fall meeting.
All-sources handle through the first 16 days of the 28-day meet was $145,937,132, a 15.2 percent decrease from the $172,126,651 handled over the same period at last fall’s Belmont Park season. Ontrack handle through 16 days is $13,272,707, down 19 percent from last year’s figure of $16,391,668.
Trainer Jonathan Wong chose an elegant way to honor the recent death of a former boss, trainer John F. Martin, over the weekend at the Big Fresno Fair.
All of Wong’s runners wore Martin’s familiar blue silks with interlocking JFM letters. Wong’s stable, which has risen to the top of Northern California racing in recent years, had five winners on Saturday and Sunday.
Martin, best known as Mickey, died Friday after a lengthy illness at the age of 63.
