Juan Vazquez, coming off his first leading trainer title at Delaware Park’s recently concluded meet, will try to beat one of his former trainees when he sends out the 3-year-old filly Bernadette’s Song to face the 5-year-old I’llthinkofsumthin in Monday’s feature at Parx Racing.
The 6 1/2-furlong sprint, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares, carries a purse of $48,000 and goes as the ninth of 10 races.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brass Hat will make his next start by switching back to dirt and turning back in distance in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap on Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs, trainer Buff Bradley said Friday.
Brass Hat, an earner of nearly $2.2 million, posted a thrilling last-to-first score in his last race, the Oct. 21 Sycamore Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on the Keeneland turf.
“There aren’t a whole lot of other spots for him,” said Bradley. “This is his home track, and he always trains well over the dirt, so we thought we might as well give it a try.”
Webb Snyder, 97, one of the original 150 members of the Jockeys’ Guild and a rider at the Charles Town’s inaugural meet in 1933, is among the seven newest members to Charles Town’s Hall of Fame.
Five former riders, track workers, and racing officials, along with two horses, will be honored at the track on Dec. 4, joining 18 other members with ties to the West Virginia track who were inducted in the first two classes.
River Echo, who in his first start at Zia Park won its main race for sprinters, the $100,000 Premiere Cup, returns to action Sunday in the $55,000 Lea County. He is one of seven older horses in the 5 1/2-furlong race, which also drew up-and-coming stakes winner Kineticat Yankee.
Promise Me a Cat was one of three 2-year-olds traveling from New York to Delta Downs in Vinton, La., on Friday to run in stakes next Saturday. She is being pointed for the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Princess for fillies, which is sharing a card with the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A favorite didn’t win until the last leg, and the two shortest-priced favorites lost, but there were enough logical winners in Friday’s pick six to avoid a fifth consecutive carryover.
The pick six paid $135,719 to eight winners, all offtrack; the 5-of-6 consolation paid $614.
The winning combination was 12-3-7-1-8-8 on Pagan Ruler ($35.60), Jimmy’s Sweetheart ($8.80), Frivolous Buck ($8.50), Top It ($6.90), Quebrada Shiner ($12.60), and Full N Sassy ($6.90); only the latter was favored.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Strange as it may sound, Asphalt cushioned the glancing blow that Eddie Kenneally took Breeders’ Cup weekend. Kenneally had been holding out hope of winning the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, but Warbling was an early defection, and My Jen finished last of 14 after capturing the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom in her final prep.
So Kenneally was happy to see Asphalt run as well as he did here Thursday in overcoming a spot of early trouble to win a second-level turf allowance easily as an odds-on favorite.
Churchill Downs officials have announced a 6.3-percent raise in overnight purses for the final 10 days of the fall meet. The purse hike actually is a result of a 10-percent raise in association purses but a 20 percent decrease in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund bonuses. The raise will translate into an average of about $3,000 more per race.
“There’s been a recent shift in the way purse money is being earned and the funds are being reallocated accordingly,” Churchill’s president, Kevin Flanery, said in a media release.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- The sharp comeback win by Caracortado in an allowance race on turf on Thursday at Hollywood Park gives trainer Mike Machowsky more options with the 3-year-old in coming months, but the main year-end goal continues to be the Grade 1, $250,000 Malibu Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita’s winter meeting Dec. 26, Machowsky said Friday morning.
