Trainers Carol Levine and Craig Miller were clever enough to enter horses with good dirt form but no turf success in the two richest races on the Pennsylvania Day at the Races program Saturday at Parx Racing.
All 12 races on a card worth a collective $690,000 are restricted to Pennsylvania-breds. In addition to three maiden special weight events worth $45,000 apiece, there are three allowances that carry a purse of $47,000 and four stakes worth a combined $350,000.
Both of the stakes on Saturday’s opening-day card at Laurel Park, the $75,000 Japan Racing Association and the $50,000 Jameela for Maryland-bred fillies and mares, were scheduled for the turf. But after Tropical Storm Lee dumped nearly eight inches of rain in central Maryland this week, the races have been shifted to the main track.
Given the switch of surfaces, the inside-outside combination of Eighttofasttocatch and Nacho Friend vault from fringe players to prime contenders in the 1 1/16-mile Japan Racing Association.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar’s meet ended its 37-day run on Wednesday with slight dips in both handle and attendance, but the mood of Joe Harper, Del Mar’s president, was decidedly upbeat, and appropriately so, because by any objective measure, this summer’s meet was a success.
MIAMI – There will be several key questions to answer when handicapping Saturday’s $55,000 Our Dear Peggy Stakes at Calder. Such as: Will the race stay on the turf as scheduled? Will Motovato actually return and race on one week’s rest? Who will make the pace if Motovato doesn’t start? And, what do you do with Picou?
Heavy storms that produced nine inches of rain within 24 hours in central Pennsylvania forced Penn National Race Course to cancel live racing for the second straight night on Thursday.
As of Thursday morning, most of the major access roads to the track were closed and not expected to reopen until sometime Friday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano every year, so it seems does Bob Baffert win the Del Mar Futurity.
Baffert did it again on Wednesday, winning the Grade 1, $250,000 Futurity for the 10th time in its last 16 runnings, this time with Drill, who survived a bumpy stretch run to prevail in the closing-day feature at Del Mar.
Led by the Grade 1, $750,000 CashCall Futurity, a stakes program numbering 17 races worth more than $3 million in purses has been released by Hollywood Park for its autumn meeting, a 26-day season that runs from Nov. 10 through Dec. 18.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Sterling Outlook and Mensa Heat dead-heated for first in the $104,375 Pirate’s Bounty Stakes for older sprinters at Del Mar on Wednesday.
Sterling Outlook ($29.20), a 33-1 shot, shot out of the gate and led the six-furlong race through fractions of 22.21 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.90 seconds for a half-mile, but Mensa Heat ($5.40), sent off at 7-2, was able to nail him right on the money to share in the victory. They were timed in 1:08.84 for six furlongs on Polytrack.
Ain’t No Other was third, with Carbonite fourth.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Rumor got the best of the head-bob against Salty Sarah after a thrilling stretch duel and came away with the nose victory in the $95,130 CERF Stakes for female sprinters on Wednesday at Del Mar.
Rumor ($5), the favorite despite being one of only two 3-year-olds in the seven-horse field, ranged up outside Salty Sarah turning into the stretch, had about a neck in front with a furlong remaining, and then had to stave off a late bid from Salty Sarah, who re-rallied along the inside.
Givine was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There is no clear path lying in front of the 3-year-old Caleb’s Posse early this fall, but the challenge of finding the right course to take with the horse is a situation his connections don’t at all mind, not when Caleb’s Posse comes off a Saratoga meet in which he won two Graded stakes, including the Grade 1 King’s Bishop over 2010 2-year-old champion Uncle Mo.
