ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Al Khali’s only trip to Woodbine, for last year’s Canadian International, was memorable for all the wrong reasons. He had a terrible trip in the lucrative Grade 1 stakes, and was arguably best while ending up a close fourth.
Al Khali returns for Sunday’s supporting feature on Woodbine Mile Day, the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf, and will try to end a drought in the 12-furlong marathon, which is worth a cool $500,000.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Side Glance and Dance and Dance both made their last starts in the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury on Aug. 11, traveled across the pond together, and will be racing outside England for the first time in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.
And both Side Glance and Dance and Dance could play serious roles in the turf race for 3-year-olds and upward in which a field of 12 will vie for shares of $1 million.
Air Support, winner of the Virginia Derby in July, has been turned out for the remainder of the year, trainer Shug McGaughey said Thursday.
McGaughey shipped Air Support to Niall Brennan’s farm in Ocala, Fla., and will point him to a 4-year-old campaign that likely won’t begin until April.
“He just never seemed to bounce back out of his race in Virginia so I piddled with him and piddled with him and I could never got him the way I wanted him so I pulled the plug,’’ McGaughey said.
Pleasant Prince, the longest shot in the field at 13-1, rallied past Rail Trip just outside the eighth pole and drew clear to a 4 1/2-length victory in Thursday’s $58,800 Pot O’ Luck Stakes.
Rail Trip, the 3-5 favorite who faced some pressure while racing on the lead, finished second, 3 1/2 lengths clear of Colizeo. Modern Cowboy was fourth, followed by Litigation Risk. Afleet Again scratched.
Pleasant Prince, who won the Ohio and Oklahoma derbies at 3, was coming off a sixth-place finish as the 9-5 favorite in the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 20.
Mission Approved, upset winner of the Manhattan Handicap in June, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.91 Thursday morning over Belmont’s inner turf course as he prepares for a start in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational here on Oct. 1.
Jockey Rajiv Maragh was aboard for the work, fueling speculation that trainer and part-owner Naipaul Chatterpaul will make a rider change for the Hirsch. Jose Espinoza has ridden Mission Approved in his last four starts, including last month’s Arlington Million, where the horse finished seventh.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Hungry Island was a convincing winner of last month’s Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga, most of the focus coming out of the race was about the disappointing performance of odds-on favorite Winter Memories.
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Suffolk Downs will hold a memorial service Sept. 24 for Tom Schwigen, the longtime starter at the track who died of a heart attack last week at age 68.
Easily recognized by his trademark hats and red, bushy mustache, Schwigen was Suffolk’s starter when it reopened in 1992 and also was the starter at Rockingham Park and other New England tracks throughout his career.
So You Think, the leading older horse in Europe, will make his next start in the Oct. 2 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, trainer Aidan O’Brien confirmed Thursday.
“So You Think is in great form and all being well with him, the plan is to run in the Arc, given reasonable ground conditions,” O’Brien said in a posting on the website of Coolmore, So You Think’s owner.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – No proven graded-stakes fillies appear in the Grade 3 Pucker Up, Saturday’s feature at Arlington, but numbers alone suggest someone from this group will turn into something greater than merely useful.
POMONA, Calif. – When he purchased Heleonor Rugby for $27,000 at the Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training, trainer A.C. Avila was not sure what he had.
“I liked her works,” Avila said. “They were only an eighth of a mile, but she galloped out strong. And, she was a California-bred.”
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