INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Acclamation, the top turf horse at the current Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting with two graded stakes wins, will shift surfaces and run on the synthetic main track in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 9.
On Tuesday, Acclamation worked seven furlongs in 1:25.20 under jockey Joe Talamo on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track synthetic surface, handling the surface without difficulty, co-owner Bud Johnston said.
With a July 1 shutdown of Minnesota state government looming due to an ongoing legislative budget battle, Canterbury Park has moved two Quarter Horse stakes, the Northlands Futurity, originally scheduled for Saturday, and the Canterbury Quarter Horse Derby, which was to be run Monday, to Thursday evening’s card.
The Minnesota Racing Commission, the regulatory body that oversees gaming at Canterbury, would not be able to operate if state government shuts down, meaning racing at Canterbury would have to be called off.
ELMONT, N.Y. – A couple of one-mile races for New York-bred fillies and mares – one on dirt and one scheduled for turf – share top billing Thursday.
In race 5, a $45,000 optional claimer scheduled for the Widener course, Who Is Lady will be favored over six others, after a luckless trip in her first start at the meet.
“There was a loose horse, and she was kind of intimidated at the quarter pole and again at the eighth pole,” explained trainer Mike Miceli.
Despite the trouble, Who Is Lady earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Court of the Realm is the real deal.
Despite coming into last Saturday’s Grade 2, $269,200 King Edward on a four-race win streak, Court of the Realm was sent off at 12-1 while making his stakes debut in the one-mile turf race over “good” going.
But when all was said and run, Court of the Realm had prevailed by half-length under regular rider Eurico Rosa da Silva while maintaining the promise of better things to come.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mike Tomlinson played college baseball, so he knows about games of inches. Racing is one of those, as Tomlinson was reminded three Thursdays ago when a filly named Costly was beaten a nose at Churchill Downs in her first try under his care.
Tomlinson will have another chance Thursday when he sends out Costly as part of a competitive field in a $65,200 second-level turf sprint, one of three allowances on a 12-race card at Churchill.
On behalf of Diamond F Racing, Tomlinson claimed the filly for $16,000 from a May 15 romp in the slop.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Paco Gonzalez is not one to dwell on statistics or history. He is more focused on the job in front of him.
What was once a stable of 20-plus horses now has six. What was once a stable that had several graded stakes winners annually from 1991-2002 may be on the verge of its first win at that level in nearly nine years.
This week, Gonzalez’s task is getting Color of Courage ready for Saturday’s $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park, a race that may put Gonzalez and owner John Toffan back in racing’s spotlight.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shackleford returned Tuesday morning to trainer Dale Romans at Churchill Downs following a brief respite at WinStar Farm. The 2011 Preakness winner was sent to the Versailles, Ky., farm after finishing fifth in the June 11 Belmont Stakes.
“He looks good, and they said he seemed to really enjoy his little vacation there,” said Romans.
The $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 31 at Monmouth Park remains “very much on target” for Shackleford, said Romans.
Leparoux back on top
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Garry Simms doesn’t ask why anymore. He just takes every day as it comes, and when something good happens – like it did Saturday at Churchill Downs, where the veteran trainer sent out Flashy Lassie to a 17-1 upset in the $109,300 Debutante Stakes – he just counts it as a blessing.
They don’t make ‘em like Honor Gulch any more.
A 9-year-old gelding, Honor Gulch will make career start No. 101 in Thursday’s eighth race at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif.
Longevity is a strong suit for Honor Gulch, who has won only two races and never lived up to his royal breeding.
