The upcoming auctions in Texas and Louisiana will both feature dispersals of the Heiligbrodt Racing Stable operation. Fasig-Tipton Texas has cataloged 372 yearlings to its Aug. 30 auction that will be held at Lone Star Park near Dallas.
The Texas sale gets underway at 10 a.m. Central, and immediately following its conclusion there will be 52 horses on offer from Heiligbrodt Racing Stable. The consignor for the Texas dispersal is Pike Racing.
Bold Recruit, beaten at odds-on in his last two starts, will seek to make amends in Friday’s feature at Louisiana Downs. Trained by Bret Calhoun, he won his first start in front-running fashion on opening weekend at Louisiana Downs in early May, but has had trouble taking the next step through his conditions, finishing second and third in his two tries since. He appears to be the controlling speed in the headliner at six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There are sprinters stretching out in distance for the first time. There are horses coming out of maiden races trying winners for the first time. There are graded stakes performers seeking a little class relief.
Friday’s $75,000 Curlin Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga has a little bit of everything. At the end of the day, it should have yielded a starter or two for next month’s $1 million Travers Stakes, the marquee event run at this historic track.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The best older horse in California who is still eligible to the first allowance condition might be a standout in a Grade 3 on Friday at Del Mar.
Setsuko, runner-up by a nose in the Santa Anita Handicap, runner-up in the Californian, and a close fourth recently in the Hollywood Gold Cup, will survey his opponents in the Cougar II Handicap and possibly wonder – where are my friends?
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Eurico Rosa da Silva, who topped the Woodbine standings for the first time and won the Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion jockey of 2010, has ended his working relationship with agent Don Parente and is now represented by Tom Patton.
“It’s nothing personal; it was just a business decision,” said the 36-year-old Da Silva, who began riding here in 2004 and has been allied with Parente for the past six seasons.
“Things just weren’t working out that well. I appreciate everything Don did for me, but it was time for a change.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Add Never Retreat’s name to the list of likely starters in the $750,000 Beverly D., trainer Chris Block said Tuesday.
“We plan on running her there,” said Block, who passed the July 9 Modesty Handicap at Arlington in favor of a start the next day in the Dance Smartly at Woodbine.
Never Retreat won the Grade 2 Dance Smartly by 1 1/4 lengths, her third graded stakes victory in an excellent 2011 campaign. Earlier in the year, she won the Honey Fox at Gulfstream Park and the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, beating Modesty winner Fantasia in the Jenny Wiley.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The 3-year-old colt Top Surprize has been finishing his Arlington turf races like a wild horse this summer, which makes sense, because Top Surprize is a wild horse.
Trainer Larry Rivelli and owner Richard Ravin claimed Top Surprize out of a $35,000 maiden-claiming loss at Gulfstream Park on April 8, with Rivelli having some inkling that Top Surprize would take some extra work.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While Preakness winner Shackleford and Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice battle for divisional supremacy in Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, seven lesser accomplished but not necessarily inferior 3-year-olds will clash in Saturday’s $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.
The goal for runners in both races is the $1 million Travers Stakes here on Aug. 27. Seven of the last 12 Travers winners have prepped in the Jim Dandy, run at 1 1/8 miles.
The New Jersey-based Out Post missed by a neck to the Linda Rice-trained Canadian Ballet in last year’s Jenny Wade Handicap at Penn National Race Course. Friday night, Out Post is back to try again against another well-accomplished female turf sprinter from Rice’s New York barn, Ahvee’s Destiny.
