INGLEWOOD, Calif. – His voice bellowed to a crowd that was largely looking past him and toward a 1,200-pound horse standing to his side.
“Okay, who’s next?” Steve Willard called out as a middle-aged couple stepped forward.
“Great,” Willard said. “Just stand right here.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Preachintothedevil had given his connections every indication he was a turf horse, his 7 1/4-length debut win over Aqueduct’s main track a month ago perhaps suggests otherwise. His connections hope to continue to be proven wrong when Preachintothedevil jumps up in class in Sunday’s $65,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-bred juveniles.
The Damon Runyon shares billing on Sunday’s nine-race card at Aqueduct with the $65,000 East View Stakes for statebred juvenile fillies. Both races will be run at a mile and 70 yards over the inner track.
Harmonizer will have recency in his favor on Sunday, when he takes on comebacking stakes winners Good and Lucky and Flat Out in a $40,000 optional claiming allowance at Fair Grounds.
The one-mile and 70-yard race has second-level allowance conditions, and it drew a field of eight older horses.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Larry Rivelli, who is based in Chicago, won the first race of the marathon Woodbine meeting with Neverrguwithrichie on April 2. On Sunday, Rivelli will be on hand to saddle Helicopter for the $150,000 Valedictory, a 1 3/4-mile marathon stakes race on a marathon 13-race card that is set to begin at 1 p.m. and conclude at 6:51 p.m.
“I think we’ll win,” Rivelli said. “The horse is doing fantastic. He’s like the little engine that could; he just keeps going and going.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Zardana has sometimes been called “Little Z” around the John Shirreffs stable in the last year. When “Big Z” is Zenyatta, that’s hardly a knock on Zardana.
On her own, the 6-year-old Zardana has had an excellent career, winning 8 of 22 starts, five stakes, and $464,276. She won the Grade 2 Bayakoa Handicap at Hollywood Park in 2009 and will be out to defend her title in Sunday’s $150,000 running.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pool Play’s fondness for extended route distances should bode well for him Sunday at Woodbine Racetrack in the 1 3/4-mile Valedictory Stakes. The $150,000 event, which is the closing day feature of the 167-day meet, has brought together a field of nine that also includes Canadian 3-year-old champion Eye of the Leopard and the popular Helicopter.
Golden Gate Fields received permission Thursday from the California Horse Racing Board to cancel the final two Wednesday cards of its current meeting, Dec. 8 and Dec. 15.
The Golden Gate request came after Hollywood Park announced earlier Thursday that it was canceling its Wednesday card on Dec. 8 and 15.
The Golden Gate fall meeting ends on Sunday, Dec. 19. The winter-spring meeting starts on Dec. 26.
Broken Dreams, the winner of an optional claimer over six furlongs on turf on Wednesday, may have two stakes engagements in January.
Trainer Tom Proctor said the long-term goal is the $200,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint for California-breds and Florida-breds over six furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 29. Broken Dreams could start in the $100,000 Monrovia Stakes on the hillside turf course for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on Jan. 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It’s not Todd Pletcher’s modus operandi to run horses back in 17 days, but when it came to Sky Music he felt he didn’t have much of a choice.
Thus, Sky Music, who has won his first two starts, will head a field of eight entered to run in Sunday’s $65,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-bred juvenile males. The Damon Runyon, at 1 1/16 miles, shares billing with the $65,000 East View Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies, also at 1 1/16 miles.
Jonathan Sheppard has sent out 14,649 starters during his Hall of Fame career and won with 2,248 of them, according to records compiled by The Jockey Club. Only two of those starters came at Fair Grounds, and neither so much as hit the board: It is high time Sheppard made a dent in the New Orleans scene, and Kitty Love may be just the horse to do it.
