Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has announced maiden special weight races for the meet that opens in January will start out at a record $40,000. Last season, the purses for such races started out at $36,000.
Oaklawn is projecting purses for the start of the meet will average $325,000 per day. The minimum purse for the meet will be $15,300. The record purse structure is being fueled in part by electronic gaming at the track.
Alternation tuned up for the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby on Friday morning, when he breezed five furlongs in 1:01.60. He worked at his Arlington Park base and will soon ship to Louisiana Downs for the Super Derby, which will be one of six stakes worth $1 million on the meet’s richest card next Saturday, Sept. 10.
Alternation will be vanning in from Chicago.
“He’ll probably get there on Tuesday morning,” said Donnie Von Hemel, who trains the horse for Pin Oak Stable.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Neil Howard is in a little bit of a quandary when it comes to Perregaux and Sunday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Saranac Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga.
In a race seemingly void of pace, Perregaux has demonstrated the ability to win on the lead. But Howard believes his better races are when he can close, something Perregaux did in finishing second in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes here on Aug. 12.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The unbeaten 2-year-old Creative Cause worked six furlongs in 1:12.20 under jockey Rafael Bejarano on Friday, his final major exercise before Wednesday’s $250,000 Del Mar Futurity.
The workout was part of a scripted scenario where trainer Mike Harrington gave Creative Cause two stablemates as targets.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Turf Cup races will highlight the Labor Day weekend cards on Sunday and Monday at Fort Erie.
On Sunday the $30,000 Labatt Cup, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, attracted 13 entrants, including one also-eligible.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – The $65,000 Gilded Time Stakes for 3-year-old grass sprinters is a very contentious supporting feature Sunday at Monmouth Park.
Five of the eight runners in the 5 1/2-furlong race posted wins last time out. Three horses – Freud’s Honor, Royal Currier, and Tiger Cat Lilly – have already scored stakes wins at the meet.
This dash is loaded with live contenders.
DEL MAR, Calif. − The $85,000 Adoration Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile Sunday at Del Mar will be the sixth start of the year for St Trinians and will determine whether she stays in training.
“If she gets beat, I’ll probably just retire her,” trainer Mike Mitchell said. “But she looks great and is working great.”
OPELOUSAS, La. – Evangeline Downs canceled Saturday night’s program in anticipation of effects from Tropical Depression 13, which formed earlier this week in the Gulf of Mexico. The 10-race program, including the $50,000 Opelousas Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, will be brought back in its entirety – as it was drawn this past Wednesday – on Thursday, Sept. 8. The rescheduled program joins Friday and Saturday of next week as not being on the original calendar, as the final two Wednesdays in August were dropped earlier in the summer in order to extend the season an extra week.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wesley Ward had contemplated entering his undefeated filly Judy the Beauty in both of Saratoga’s Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds run on closing weekend. But after seeing the field and post position draw for Sunday’s $250,000 Spinaway Stakes for the girls, Ward decided there was no need to re-enter her in Monday’s $250,000 Hopeful against the boys.
“I think I’m in the right spot,” Ward said by phone Friday morning as he prepared to leave Aqueduct and drive to Saratoga. “I drew a great post, she should run well, there’s nothing more I can do.”
DEL MAR, Calif. − After winning three of her last four starts in sprints, Sugarinthemorning makes her career debut around two turns in Sunday’s $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar.
The one-mile Torrey Pines Stakes could present the quick Sugarinthemorning with an ideal scenario − a small field without a clear front-runner.
