INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The rematch between M One Rifle and Cost of Freedom in Monday’s $100,000 Los Angeles Handicap at Hollywood Park is one subplot in the Grade 3 race over six furlongs.
M One Rifle broke Cost of Freedom’s 2010 five-furlong track record of 56.14 seconds when he won the Cool Frenchy Stakes in 55.98 seconds on May 7, outfinishing Cost of Freedom by a half-length.
MEMORIAL DAY RACING: Stakes schedule, contender replays, and news updates
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Malibu Pier won consecutive turf stakes at Santa Anita in March and April, an accomplishment that has not scared the losers of those races from Monday’s $250,000 Gamely Stakes at Hollywood Park.
MEMORIAL DAY RACING: Stakes schedule, contender replays, and news updates »
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Santiva warmed up for a probable start in the 143rd Belmont Stakes by breezing five furlongs Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, finishing in 1:00.60 over a fast track while in the company of stablemate Golden Gulch.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tizway and Tackleberry may have been out of their comfort zones in distance, circumference, and surface last month when they chased a million-dollar pot in the 1 1/8-mile Charles Town Classic run around three turns over a sloppy track.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Junior Alvarado, leading rider at the Arlington meet, sustained a broken collarbone when his mount, Monkey’s Moonbeam, broke down at about the five-sixteenths pole during the fourth race late Friday afternoon.
Monkey’s Moonbeam was racing near the back of an off-the-turf field when she suffered a catastrophic leg injury. Alvarado managed to keep his seat after his mount’s first bad step, but as Monkey’s Moonbeam went down he was thrown in front of her, breaking his collarbone in the fall.
The fallout from the cancellation last week of the Yavapai Downs summer meet has extended north, as the Coconino County Board of Supervisors cancelled the four-day Coconino County Fair meet at Flagstaff. The short meet has annually been over the July 4 holiday in partnership with Yavapai Downs, and this year was to run from July 1 through July 4.
MIAMI – With the turf experiment over, at least for the time being, Jackson Bend returns to his favorite track for the first time in 19 months on Monday in Calder’s $75,000 Memorial Day Handicap.
Jackson Bend is one of two horses trainer Stanley Gold has entered in the 1 1/16-mile Memorial Day, along with Hear Ye Hear Ye, who shoulders co-high weight of 120 pounds along with defending champion Mambo Meister. The Memorial Day lost its Grade 3 status this year.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Game On Dude was just a maiden winner a year ago when he shipped to Texas and won the Lone Star Derby. Monday, he returns to town as one of the nation’s top older horses.
Game On Dude has shipped in from Southern California for the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap. The 1 1/16-mile race is both the richest offering of the meet and the annual anchor of the Lone Star Million Day card of six stakes worth a collective $1 million.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Palm trees, warm weather, plenty of sunshine…what’s not to love about Florida in the winter?
Just about everything, if you’re Unbridled Essence. The 5-year-old Unbridled Essence looks to regroup Monday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Violet Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf at Monmouth Park.
MONMOUTH PARK: Live video for every race day of the 2011 meet »
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Six furlongs probably isn’t an ideal distance for Sassy Image, but it’s sure not the only variable to consider when the 4-year-old filly starts Monday as the favorite in the Grade 3, $100,000 Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill Downs.
“She’s got the class,” said Dale Romans, who trains Sassy Image for his older brother, Jerry Romans Jr. “And she sure does love this racetrack.”
