SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Perhaps the best illustration of how competitive Saturday’s $250,000 Coaching Club American Oaks came up is this: New York Racing Association linemaker Eric Donovan made Joyful Victory, the 2-1 favorite in the Kentucky Oaks and odds-on choice in the Mother Goose, the 6-1 longest shot in the five-horse field set to contest the first Grade 1 of the Saratoga meet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Both City to City and Lilly Fa Pootz had productive seasons last summer at Del Mar, so when it came time to scheduling their 2011 campaigns, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer had his sights set on this meet for them.
On Saturday, both will start in the $85,000 Osunitas Handicap, a supporting feature on a card headed by the Grade 1 Eddie Read. The Osunitas, at 1 1/16 miles on turf for older fillies and mares, drew a strong field of 10, certainly the quality of a graded stakes race. Lilly Fa Pootz, though, is the defending winner of the race.
Calder Race Course has raised its purses for the second time in the last seven weeks, boosting overnight purses 5 percent effective with Thursday’s program. Calder had originally raised purses 7.5 per cent on June 3.
The latest increase will be applied to base overnight purses and excludes stakes, Florida Owner Awards, and maiden special weight races. The owner awards and maiden special weight races were both increased last month.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Hollywood Hit is back on track.
Canada’s champion sprinter in 2010, Hollywood Hit recorded his fifth career stakes victory Wednesday in the 6 1/2-furlong Bold Venture.
With regular rider Jim McAleney in the irons, Hollywood Hit broke on top but then settled in second behind Essence Hit Man before taking charge entering the stretch and holding off Signature Red for a three-quarter-length victory.
”He ran good; we just let him run his own race,” said Terry Jordan, who trains the 5-year-old Hollywood Hit for owner Peter Redekop,
In Excess, one of the most successful California sires of all time, has been pensioned at age 24 because of age and declining fertility, according to the farm where he stood, Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsal, Calif.
The sire of Indian Charlie, who stands for $70,000 in Kentucky, In Excess has sired 62 stakes winners and 16 California-bred champions. In addition to Indian Charlie, whose biggest win came in the 1998 Santa Anita Derby, In Excess sired Grade 1 winners Musical Chimes and Romance Is Diane. In California, In Excess is the all-time leading sire by money won.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith was left so enthused by a five-furlong workout from Mr. Commons at Hollywood Park on July 13 that he was tempted to describe the colt as the “new Lure,” a reference to the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Smith rode in the early 1990s.
ALTOONA, Iowa – The $100,000 Prairie Meadows Handicap, run for only the second time, returns Saturday evening. The race drew an intriguing field of seven seasoned route horses, five of whom will be attempting the 1 1/4-mile trip for the first time.
A pair of six-furlong stakes for Minnesota-bred 3-year-olds, the Frances Genter for fillies and the Victor S. Meyers for colts and geldings, headline the first Saturday at Canterbury Park since the Minnesota state government closure cost the track 12 racing dates and forced the postponement of six stakes races. Track officials plan to reschedule the stakes later in the meet.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Awesome Maria, among the leaders in a very deep distaff division, will miss the remainder of the year after suffering a condylar fracture of her left foreleg, trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday.
