ELMONT, N.Y. – While the focus around these parts is the Oct. 1 card featuring five Grade 1 races, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is hoping for more than one Super Saturday in the next month.
McLaughlin on Saturday morning put a quartet of horses through workouts at Belmont Park for upcoming stakes both here and out of town. McLaughlin waited until late in the morning – when both the main track and training tracks have less traffic – to send out his stakes horses.
History is a big part of the Kentucky Downs allure, what with the legacy of pistol duels involving iconic figures such as Sam Houston and other ages-old tidbits.
John Gaver III knows a little something about racing history, having lived it through his grandfather and father, and when he brings a 3-year-old filly named High Alpine to Kentucky Downs to race Monday, it will be for an outfit with a rich racing history as well – Overbrook Farm.
Shackleford had his first breeze since a disappointing performance in the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes when going five furlongs Saturday morning, after which trainer Dale Romans said he is contemplating a run in the Oct. 1 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park for his Preakness winner.
“We’ll either go to Indiana or just train straight into the Breeders’ Cup,” said Romans, with either the Dirt Mile or Classic the target.
With Tammy Fox aboard, Shackleford went in 1:01.20 over a fast track at Churchill Downs. The speedy colt faded badly to finish eighth in the Travers.
General Quarters will stay on a synthetic surface in his attempt to make the Breeders’ Cup when he runs Saturday as one of the favorites in the $200,000 WinStar Kentucky Cup, the showcase event in the newly revived Kentucky Cup series at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
Miss Victoriana, mounting a steady wide rally after trailing the field of nine through the first-half mile, kept coming for a determined 1 1/4- length victory in Friday night’s $50,000 Matron at Assiniboia Downs.
Based in Alberta with trainer Red Smith, Miss Victoriana had shipped east to capture last year’s 1 1/8-mile Matron at 7-1 and returned $13.70 this time around under new rider Stephan Heiler.
The 25-horse stable owned by Billy Hays and trained by Joe Woodard vacated Turfway Park on Saturday morning after they scratched all six horses they had entered in five races Friday night at the Florence, Ky., track in their escalating dispute with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinary staff.
Turfway president Bob Elliston said he requested the stable to leave the premises shortly before the start of the evening card after he learned of the scratches. Hays and Woodard also scratched their previous nine scheduled starters last week at Turfway.
POMONA, Calif. – A paid workout Friday at Fairplex Park by the promising 2-year-old filly Candrea will catapult her into a Grade 1 next month at Santa Anita.
Candrea, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Martin Pedroza, dominated the $50,000 Phil. D. Shepherd Stakes at Fairplex, winning the seven-furlong race by four lengths while geared down.
“That was a good workout for her,” Baffert said from Kentucky. “Now I can run her back in the Oak Leaf.” The mile and a sixteenth Oak Leaf will be run Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.
Rapid Redux remained on course in his quest to challenge the all-time record of 19 consecutive wins by a North American Throroughbred by cruising to his 17th consecutive victory Friday night at Charles Town.
A 5-year-old gelding who was claimed for $6,500 by owner Robert Cole in October 2010, Rapid Redux is now just two wins shy of the record shared by the superstar mare Zenyatta and the New Mexico-bred mare Peppers Pride.
ELMONT, N.Y. - There will be a pick-six carryover of $93,828 on Saturday at Belmont Park after the wager went unhit for a second consecutive day.
The carryover was assured when Count Catamount ($30.40) won the eighth race. There were no live tickets entering the nightcap, which was won by Honey Talk ($14.80).
Friday’s pick-six sequence also included double-digit-priced winners Top Surprize ($18) and Kharafa ($31.80).
The consolation payout (5 of 6) returned $1,007.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Unbridled Humor had been so impressive winning her first four career starts that a start in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga seemed logical. The betting public dove in with both fists sending her off the 9-5 favorite in a nine-horse field.
The bettors and her connections were bitterly disappointed when Unbridled Humor faltered after setting the pace, finishing seventh, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by Zagora.
