A poor start cost Ima Chickie Too any chance in the Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos in May. A clean start in time trials last Saturday has made her the fastest qualifier for the $466,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity on July 30.
In the time trials, Ima Chickie Too ran a mistake-free race over 350 yards, winning her division by 2 1/4 lengths in 17.275 seconds. She is expected to be favored in the final, which is part of a lucrative night of stakes for California-bred Quarter Horses.
Calder Race Course has cancelled plans to add nine Monday cards to its schedule from late July until late September, the racetrack said Wednesday.
Monday cards were expected to be added to the current four-day-a-week schedule beginning July 25 and running through Sept. 26. One Monday card, on Sept. 5, Labor Day, will remain on the schedule, the racetrack said. Calder currently runs Thursday through Sunday.
On the afternoon of July 1, Carl Lizza sat in the virtually empty Belmont room on the second floor at Belmont Park, where he watched his 2-year-old colt, The Prize Fighter, finish a credible second in a New York-bred maiden race.
Lizza talked about the pedigree of the horse – he is by Pure Prize out of the mare Miss Winning Sweep, who won first time out before bucking her shins and had produced four winners.
“Soundness has always been a little bit of a problem; other than that, she gets fast horses, very good horses,” Lizza said. “This horse will be okay.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Watching Crew Leader and St Liams Halo duke it out in the $50,000 S.W. Randall Plate at Hastings last Sunday brought back memories of days gone by when match races were an integral part of the North American racing scene.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Dancing Daisy figures to be tough to handle when she runs in a $25,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at Hastings on Friday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew seven horses but it is hard to go past Dashing Daisy, who will be a short price to win her fourth race at the meet. Due to a B.C. Lions football game, the first race is scheduled for 3:20 p.m. Pacific.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Racing will finally return to Minnesota on Thursday after Canterbury Park lost 12 race cards of its 62-date season to a state government shutdown over a budget dispute.
“We are relieved that this shutdown has come to an end. It has caused undue hardship for far too many,” Canterbury president Randy Sampson said. “I look forward to welcoming back our employees, loyal customers, and horsemen, who will once again be able to compete for purses.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The stakes-winning 3-year-old Jazzy Jessy fits nicely in Friday’s seventh race at Woodbine, a $25,000 starter allowance scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on the grass.
Jazzy Jessy captured the Happy Ticket Stakes on the turf last September at Louisiana Downs but is winless in six starts since then. She was favored when she dropped into a $25,000 conditioned claimer in February at Fair Grounds, but could only manage a third-place finish.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Flashy Lassie, winner of the Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs in June, will scratch out of Friday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga, trainer Garry Simms said Wednesday morning.
SARATOGA OPENING DAY: Past performances and video previews »
Simms said he did not want to van the filly from Churchill Downs to Saratoga in the oppressive heat that has gripped the Midwest and East Coast. Temperatures were in the 90s in both places on Wednesday.
Prairie Meadows canceled its Tuesday race card because of the heat.
The races, which were scheduled to beging at 3:30 p.m. Central, were canceled shortly before the first race after jockeys voted not to ride. The temperature at the time was 97 degrees with a 111-degree heat index.
"Even very well-conditioned racehorses, with the heat index this high, how can you feel comfortable asking them for everything they have to stay on their feet?" jockey Ken Tohill was quoted as saying in a Prairie Meadows press release..
