ELMONT, N.Y. - There will be a $114,149 pick six carryover into Friday's card at Belmont Park after the wager went unhit for a second straight day.
Thursday's sequence began with Extraextraordinary winning at $70.50 and included double-digit winners Best Actor ($11) and Saltamontes ($34.20). After Eccentric Life ($7.50) won the nightcap, the consolation payout (5 of 6) was $5,092.
FLORENCE, Ky. – Fall officially began Friday, but as far as the Kentucky racing calendar goes, it may have started a few days early. That’s when the Todd Pletcher stable began setting up shop at Churchill Downs in preparation of an autumn run that kicks off Saturday at Turfway Park with the Kentucky Cup before winding through Keeneland and another Churchill fall meet highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup.
POMONA, Calif. – The handicapping challenges that face bettors Saturday at Fairplex Park go beyond the intriguing $50,000 stakes doubleheader on the final weekend of the Los Angeles County Fair meet.
The 12-race all-Thoroughbred card Saturday is packed with full fields, and even races with smaller lineups are potential traps. Those include the seven-runner Pomona Derby (race 9) and eight-runner Las Madrinas Handicap (race 11) for fillies and mares.
It took Indiano a little while to figure out what U.S. racing was all about. Now that he has, Indiano has proven to be unbeatable.
Indiano will be heavily favored to win his fourth consecutive stakes race Saturday when he takes on six opponents in the $250,000 Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx Racing. The Gallant Bob, run at six furlongs, is restricted to 3-year-olds.
ELMONT, N.Y. − Ask the Moon, who went from claimer to multiple Grade 1 stakes winner this summer, will ship to Southern California next week to take on Blind Luck in the Grade 1 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, trainer Marty Wolfson said.
“I know Blind Luck is going to be in there, but if there’s not a lot of pace she might like that track,” said Wolfson, who noted he has Rafael Bejarano to ride.
The $250,000 Lady’s Secret is run around two turns, and Wolfson said that made it more attractive than the Beldame, a one-turn race run the same day at Belmont Park.
Having helped revive the Kentucky Cup this year by sponsoring the five-stakes series, WinStar Farm will be present most everywhere at Turfway Park Saturday – with its name or stallions attached to stakes races, and to representatives from the farm handing out trophies to the respective winners.
WinStar is also a participant – and a leading one at that – running one of its better 3-year-olds, Cal Nation, against Will’s Wildcat, Matthewsburg, Phillipe, and seven other rivals and in the Grade 3, $100,000 Kentucky Cup Sprint.
AUBURN, Wash. – With the meeting winding down to its final two days, Emerald Downs horsemen rushed the entry box Wednesday morning, eager for one last shot at purses before the frosty months ahead. That created a pleasant scenario for Bret Anderson, Emerald’s director of racing, who was able to cobble together 11-race cards for both Saturday and Sunday.
Sword Trick has never been beaten in a main-track sprint, and those are the conditions he will be getting back to Saturday night in the $100,000 Texas Stallion Stakes at Retama Park near San Antonio.
The six-furlong race for 2-year-olds is one of two stakes on the card. There also is a $100,000 division of the race for fillies, with both races restricted to the offspring stallions nominated to the Stallion Stakes.
David Grening, the New York racing reporter for Daily Racing Form , has been selected as the recipient of the 2011 Walter Haight Award by the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, the organization announced on Thursday.
The Walter Haight Award is given to recognize “career excellence in turf writing,” the association said. Grening has been the New York reporter for the Form since 1998, when the publication was purchased by the Alpine Group. Before coming to the Racing Form , Grening covered racing for the New York Post and the Trentonian in New Jersey.
