AUBURN, Wash. – Still early in Emerald Downs’s 82-day meeting, the track’s 3-year-olds have yet to separate themselves in any meaningful way. The winnowing begins Monday, when a field of nine is scheduled to run 6 1/2 furlongs in the $50,000 Auburn Handicap. The Memorial Day program begins at 2 p.m. Pacific, and the Auburn is race No. 6 on an expanded 11-race card.
Some old lions hope to be roaring at Golden Gate Fields on Memorial Day in the Grade 3, $100,000 Berkeley Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile Tapeta race.
All eight entrants have earned black type during their careers, seven having won stakes. There are two millionaires in the field, 8-year-old Bold Chieftain and 7-year-old Delightful Kiss. Both have won graded stakes as have Monday opponents Autism Awareness, who defeated Bold Chieftain in the 2009 Berkeley, and Our Nautique, who is coming off a victory on turf in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile and is the one to catch in the Berkeley.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Ramon Dominguez, the nation’s leading rider in wins in 2011, took off his nine scheduled mounts Saturday at Belmont Park due to stiffness in his neck as a result of a spill he was involved in during the running of Friday’s sixth race.
Dominguez is hoping to return on Sunday, according to his agent, Steve Rushing.
“He feels fine, no headaches or anything, it’s just his neck is pretty stiff,” Rushing said Saturday morning. “He felt all right last night, but when you’re in a spill like that you’re going to feel worse the next day.”
In less than 30 minutes, Friday night's card at Penn National Race Course showcased the rise of one star and the descent of another.
Quantum Miss set a track record for six furlongs in dominating the $77,063 Wonders Delight for Pennsylvania-bred fillies, but Fabulous Strike, making the second start of his comeback following 15 months on the sidelines recovering from a tendon injury, faded to fifth as the 1-2 favorite in the $75,000 Changing Times for older sprinters.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Bob Baffert is preparing several leading horses in his stable for stakes in New York in June, but may not have a runner in the Belmont Stakes on June 11.
“I think I’ll be the undercard guy,” Baffert said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Has Father Time caught up with the 8-year-old New York-bred Banrock, or is the eight-time stakes winner ready for a renaissance? That’s the question handicappers will have to debate when trying to decipher Sunday’s $100,000 Kingston Stakes at Belmont Park.
The Kingston, for New York-bred males, shares billing with the $100,000 Mount Vernon, for New York-bred females, on Belmont’s 10-race card. Both turf races have been shortened to one mile from 1 1/16 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Not too long ago, handicappers would have scoffed upon learning there were four New York-breds entered in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. But not only is one of the New York-breds the potential favorite for Monday’s 119th renewal of the Met Mile, but it’s difficult to readily dismiss any of the quartet’s chances in the race.
MEMORIAL DAY RACING: Stakes schedule, contender replays, and news updates »
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Lone Star Million Day has traditionally been a big afternoon for trainer Steve Asmussen, who in 2004 won four of the six stakes that make up the richest Thoroughbred card in Texas.
Monday, he will be hoping for more Memorial Day success. Asmussen has starters in three of this year’s Million Day stakes, chief among them Thiskyhasnolimit in the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap. Asmussen’s other stakes starters will be Expansion in the $150,000 Dallas Turf Cup and Awesome Bet in the $200,000 Lone Star Derby.
A field of nine has been drawn to contest Monday’s $75,000 Memorial Day Handicap at Calder, led by topweights Hear Ye Hear Ye and Mambo Meister, both of whom will carry 120 pounds. They will be joined in the gate by Jackson Bend, Motovato, Bernie the Maestro, Dream Maestro, Star Player, Where’s Sterling, and El Kingdom.
MEMORIAL DAY RACING: Stakes schedule, contender replays, and news updates
