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MIAMI - In addition to having Irrefutable in the Smile Sprint, trainer Bob Baffert will also be well represented in both graded stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday's Summit of Speed card at Calder, with May Day Rose in the $150,000 Azalea for fillies and Smash in the $200,000 Carry Back.
Lydia’s Last Step and Coyote Legend have been frequent rivals this meet at Lone Star Park. Lydia’s Last Step won the Premiere over Coyote Legend on opening night April 14, while Coyote Legend turned the tables a month later in a turf allowance. Saturday, the pair get a chance to settle the score. They will meet in the $75,000 Assault, one of four restricted stakes worth $325,000 on the Stars of Texas Day card at Lone Star Park.
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MIAMI – Two of the last three winners of Calder’s $350,000 Smile Sprint Handicap, Benny the Bull and Big Drama, went on to earn Eclipse Awards as sprint champions in 2008 and 2010. Orientate accomplished the same feat in 2002. Both Big Drama and Orientate also won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint during their championship seasons.
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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A win by Twirling Candy in Saturday’s $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup would put him solidly on course for the Breeders’ Cup Classic and solidify his hold at the top of the California handicap division.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Willcox Inn won the Arlington Classic on May 28 racing 1 1/16 miles over a wet turf course. Saturday, Willcox Inn will go 1 3/16 miles on what should be far firmer grass in Saturday’s American Derby, but the changes may only help the colt.
Willcox Inn won last time despite not particularly caring for a yielding course, trainer Mike Stidham said, and Stidham, who debuted Willcox Inn in a route race late last summer, eagerly awaits longer distances.
“The farther the better with him,” Stidham said.
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Gio Ponti enters this year’s Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes – to be run Saturday at Belmont Park – much the same way he came into last year’s Man o’ War. His connections hope he comes out of it the same way too – that is, with a victory.
AUBURN, Wash. – Tom Wenzel, as hot as any trainer at Emerald Downs, will send out the powerful entry of Tasya and Rossi Reserve in Saturday’s feature race, a $20,000 claimer for 3-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs. The eight-race card begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.
Wenzel had a rather quiet 2010 at Emerald, saddling 15 winners and finishing in the middle of the pack in the trainer standings. But less than halfway through the current meeting, Wenzel, 45, is poised to meet or surpass his 2010 win total in the very near future, perhaps as early as Saturday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Wasted Tears almost purrs like a cat when the insides of her ears are scratched. Touch her belly, though, and her ears pin straight back. At the first sight and sound of the commuter train that passes just north of the Arlington backstretch, Wasted Tears didn’t even lift her head from grazing.
ELMONT, N.Y. − Rail Trip won’t be participating in his third consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup when that race is run Saturday at Hollywood Park. But that doesn’t mean his connections don’t have big plans for him.
After watching Rail Trip run a bang-up second in an overnight stakes last month at Belmont Park, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. is pointing him to the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 6. On Thursday, Rail Trip worked six furlongs in 1:13.36 over a fast but dull Aqueduct main track.
