ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Moira has been tabbed as the 5-2 favorite by linemaker Ernie Perri for the 163rd running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate on Sunday at Woodbine.
Moira, an easy winner of the Woodbine Oaks on July 24, got post 8 in the 11-horse field and will be ridden by Rafael Hernandez in her quest to become the 38th filly to win the 1 1/4-mile event for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Trainer Kevin Attard, who is seeking his first Plate victory, was content with Moira’s post.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Matareya, the Grade 1 Acorn winner who finished third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 7, is getting turned out for a few months and probably will not run again until 2023, trainer Brad Cox said.
Matareya, owned by Godolphin Racing, will get her time off at her owner’s farm in Lexington, Ky., Cox said.
“She had a long season,” Cox said. “She’s obviously a Grade 1 winner, and with what’s left on the schedule we just thought it would be a great time to give her a break and go from there.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Santin came out of his Arlington Million victory in good order and will make his next start in the $1 million Coolmore Mile on Oct. 8 at Keeneland, according to trainer Brendan Walsh.
Santin earned a career-high 106 Beyer Speed Figure in his 1 3/4-length triumph Saturday over Smooth Like Strait on the Churchill Downs turf. It was the second Grade 1 win this year for Santin, a 4-year-old Godolphin homebred colt by Distorted Humor, following the May 7 Old Forester Turf Classic over the same course.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There are plenty of places Ryan Curatolo has been throughout his relatively young life as a jockey, but one spot he’s obviously been at home is the back of a horse.
No matter where he’s gone – and his passport has more stamps than a foreign correspondent for a newsmagazine – Curatolo has produced, and it’s been more of the same this summer at Del Mar, where he’s scratched and clawed his way to a tie for sixth in the jockey standings with seven wins from 53 mounts through Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - D. Wayne Lukas flashed a Cheshire cat grin when asked if Secret Oath, beaten 12 1/2 lengths by Nest in the Coaching Club American Oaks four weeks ago, was feeling the effects of a long campaign.
“Get ready,” Lukas, sitting atop his stable pony on a cool Tuesday morning in Saratoga said. “The outsiders don’t train her. I’m not making any excuses; the campaign doesn’t bother me a bit.
Wilmer Garcia, who has been in the thick of the battle for leading rider at Prairie Meadows, will miss the remainder of the meet after fracturing two vertebrae in a race Sunday.
Garcia was injured when his horse clipped heels with another right out of the starting gate during the eighth race and he hit the ground hard, according to his agent, Becky Esch.
Esch said Garcia fractured his C-4 and C-5 vertebra. Garcia is in a Des Moines, Iowa, hospital, where he is scheduled to have two surgeries Wednesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though trainer Christophe Clement mentioned he might give Big Invasion a little freshening following his victory in Sunday’s $150,000 Mahony Stakes, the 3-year-old’s sixth straight win, Clement said Monday that no decision has been made in that regard.
Plans for Big Invasion might be to train him up to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 5 at Keeneland or run in the Grade 3, $600,000 Franklin-Simpson on Sept. 10 at Kentucky Downs. The Franklin-Simpson is restricted to 3-year-olds and is run at 6 1/2 furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Yibir, the Breeder’s Cup Turf winner, suffered “a slight setback” that will force him to miss a planned start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer Stakes here Aug. 27, Godolphin announced on Twitter over the weekend.
Yibir was coming off a victory in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes on July 7 at Newmarket. He had the Sword Dancer and perhaps another start in the United States on his agenda leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland in November.
Godolphin’s tweet did not indicate how much time Yibir would miss.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On Monday, trainer Steve Asmussen sent out Jackie’s Warrior and Gunite for a five-furlong move that was completed in 1:00.08.
Jackie’s Warrior, preparing for the Grade 1 Forego here Aug. 27, started a length in front of Gunite and the pair basically finished that way, getting their last quarter in 23.65 seconds. Gunite, winner of the Grade 2 Amsterdam, is pointing to the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens here Aug. 27.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With the Sunday arrival of Rich Strike, the first two finishers of the Kentucky Derby are at the same facility for the first time in more than three months.
On a beautiful Monday morning in Saratoga both Rich Strike and Epicenter had markedly different training sessions as they prepare for their rematch in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 27.
