OCEANPORT, N.J. – The $75,000 Omnibus Stakes, the Saturday feature at Monmouth Park, is a rare opportunity for filly and mare turf runners to stretch out to 1 3/8 miles.
Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard believes the distance will benefit both of his uncoupled fillies in the race: Dyna Waltz and Dramatica.
Dyna Waltz, a homebred for George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stables, figures to be one of the favorites after finishing sixth, beaten only 2 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga.
The results of Saturday’s second race at Louisiana Downs will be worth noting for those who will be playing Remington Park in Oklahoma City on Saturday night. If the capable Royal Hay Patch runs well in Bossier City, it would bode well for Herecomesbert, who heads Remington’s featured sixth race, a second-level allowance at six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mabou, claimed for $30,000 three weeks ago, wasted little time becoming a Grade 1 winner when he rallied from last to a convincing 5 3/4-length victory over Irish invader Dirar in the $100,000 New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase Handicap on Thursday at Saratoga. The win gave David Jacobson the first graded stakes winner of his training career and came with the first horse he had ever started in a steeplechase event.
Zarb’s Dahar has not missed a Louisiana Downs meet for the last eight seasons and looks to make it nine meets in a row Saturday, when he runs in the featured second race, a $25,000 optional claiming sprint at six furlongs. It will be Zarb’s Dahar’s first start in a year, and he will be a longshot in the eight-horse field, which is led by Don’t Shoot and Royal Hay Patch.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − As he watched his filly Desert Sage contest the early pace of the Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap at Parx Racing last month, trainer Chad Brown knew he was in trouble.
A filly who in her three previous races had been covered up before unleashing a powerful kick was now out of her routine. So it was no surprise when she finished fourth as the 2-1 favorite.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As well as Dale Romans believes Shackleford is doing at Saratoga in preparation for the Travers Stakes, the trainer only wishes his 3-year-old was training as well as Sassy Image is leading up to Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Ballerina Stakes.
Jilleah, coming off a third-place finish in the one-mile Assiniboia Oaks, looms as the filly to beat as she returns at 1 1/16 miles at Assiniboia Downs for Saturday’s Jack Hardy Stakes.
The Jack Hardy, a $25,000 race for 3-year-old fillies, attracted a field of five in which Jilleah and Little Widow Maker are the only stakes winners.
Jilleah finished second in back-to-back first-level allowance races at Woodbine this spring before being shipped to Winnipeg and trainer Gary Danelson.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Court of the Realm was on top of the world heading into the Grade 3 Seagram Cup, riding the crest of five straight wins. He was sent off as the even-money choice while racing with Lasix for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Polytrack stakes here at Woodbine on Aug. 6.
But, after finishing sixth there after dueling on a moderate pace under jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva, Court of the Realm will have to prove himself all over again in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Play the King.
Calder will institute its newest wager, the Saturday Showdown, beginning with Saturday’s Juvenile Showcase program.
The Saturday Showdown is a head-to-head wager in which a bettor must pick which of two pre-designated horses will finish ahead of the other in the last race on each Saturday card throughout the remainder of the meet. The wager will carry an 18-percent takeout and requires a $1 minimum bet.
