LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The results of several key prep races in recent weeks has led to eight new names for the third and final pool in the 2011 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens its three-day run Friday at noon Eastern at tracks and wagering outlets throughout North America.
Don’tgetsuspicious made up a huge chunk of ground in deep stretch to overtake pacesetter Fancy Cup by a neck in Tuesday night’s $35,000 overnight handicap sprint feature at Charles Town.
Penn National shipper Fancy Cup, bidding for her fifth straight win, held a 3 1/2 –length lead under jockey Luis Belmonte with just a furlong remaining in the 4 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. But Don’tgetsuspicious ($5.40) rallied strongly under Travis Dunkelberger to win by a neck while completing the distance in 52.02 seconds.
Recent Grade 2 stakes winner Harissa had an easy time collecting her third straight added-money victory by cruising to a four-length win under jockey Stewart Elliott in Tuesday’s $75,000 Langhorne Sakes at Parx Racing.
The 4-year-old Harissa ($2.60), based in New York with trainer Mike Hushion, was making her first start since taking the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park on Feb. 19. She covered the 6 ½ furlongs of the Langhorne in 1:16.93, earning an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Valorie Lund did not know what to think at the end of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs last November.
Her top horse, Atta Boy Roy, had finished a troubled 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and had been pulled up on the first turn adjacent to an outrider when jockey Calvin Borel climbed off.
“I was more than terrified,” Lund recalled on Tuesday from her base in Arizona.
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Arienza and Summer Soiree are both Oaklawn-based candidates for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks, but they are following different paths to the May 6 race.
Arienza’s springboard is to come next month, in either the Grade 2, $300,000 Fantasy on April 10 or the $100,000 Instant Racing on April 16. Summer Soiree may not race again until the Kentucky Oaks.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Although she faded to third behind runner-up Big Brownie in the recent Broadway Stakes, Lots of Stones has been pegged as the even-money favorite over that rival for their rematch in Thursday’s $60,000 Ruby Rubles overnight stakes.
Lots of Stones had a six-race winning streak snapped in the Broadway when she chased multiple stakes winner Meese Rocks through moderate fractions as the second choice and was overtaken in the stretch for second by Big Brownie, who was the longest shot on the board at 18-1.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sarasota Sunshine’s first few starts in California have been an experiment for trainer Mike Mitchell.
Mitchell ran Sarasota Sunshine in an optional claimer over seven furlongs on Feb. 18, when she finished a decent fourth behind the subsequent stakes winner Church Camp. A start in a one-mile turf race was not as successful on March 12, a last-place finish in a field of 10.
The company that owns Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., lost nearly $1 million in 2010, or 25 cents a share, on lower revenue from its racing operations and higher expenses partially related to lobbying efforts to obtain legislative approval for slot machines, according to documents released by the company on Tuesday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A couple of long-winded veterans who have kept steady diets of graded stakes competition – Free Fighter and Simmard – suddenly show up with price tags on their heads when they cross paths once again in Thursday’s 1 1/2-mile main event at Gulfstream Park. The second-level optional claiming and allowance race, which is scheduled to be run on the grass, drew a field of eight to vie for a $61,700 purse.
