PHOENIX – Trainer Robertino Diodoro looks to double his pleasure at Turf Paradise Saturday when he sends out prime contenders in the two stakes at the Phoenix track: Waltzing With Blue in the $35,000 Walter R. Cluer Memorial, a mile turf race for 3-year-olds and upward, and Rule the Storm in the $35,000 Queen of the Green Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile on the turf.
The Queen of the Green goes as race 6; the Walter Cluer is race 8.
ALBANY, Calif. – Trainer Bud Klokstad won’t admit to high expectations for Summer Excess, a 3-year-old who is making his stakes debut in Saturday’s $50,000 Oakland Handicap at Golden Gate Fields. But just the fact he has entered the gelding in this six-furlong stakes for 3-year-olds and up tells you something. Summer Excess faces five rivals, four of whom are stakes winners.
Tiz Miz Sue remained undefeated in three starts over Delaware Park’s main track by scoring a 4 ¼-length victory in Wednesday’s $50,350 Polly’s Jet Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Making her first start since winning a second-level optional claimer on Aug. 26, Tiz Miz Sue ($15.20) ran 1 1/16 miles on a wet-fast track in 1:44.05, giving leading jockey Anna Napravnik the 995th victory of her career.
Trained by Steve Hobby, Tiz Miz Sue has now won 4 of 13 overall. Her previous best finish in a stakes was second in the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Lassie 13 months ago.
Thistledown’s season-long jockey race between Luis Gonzalez and Yamil Rosario was a dead heat at the start of Tuesday’s card, the 109th day of the season. Each had 74 winners and both had ridden the same number of horses, 289. Mike Greenfield, the top Thistledown agent for the past 15 years, represents both riders.
Rodrigo Vergara won the last race at Beulah Park on Tuesday aboard longshot Mr. Raven ($98.80) for his third win of the fall/winter meet.
The first two wins for Vergara, 22, a native of Santiago, Chile, resulted from ground-saving trips and rallies along the rail. His first victory in the United States was on the second day of racing at Beulah on Oct. 13, when he guided first-time starter Russarah ($17) home for trainer Ivan Vazquez in a six-furlong sprint. His second came board Apollonious ($16.80) for trainer Albert Dodge going a mile last Saturday.
Large fields have been the norm this season at Retama Park near San Antonio, so it was no surprise that the El Joven and La Senorita both drew big fields to close out the meet Saturday night. The one-mile turf races are for 2-year-olds, with the Wesley Ward-trained R Boy Bill heading the El Joven and Jazzy Jessy, recent winner of the Happy Ticket Stakes at Louisiana Downs, the one to beat in the La Senorita. Both races are worth $75,000.
Nominations for the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., close on Friday. The 1 1/16-mile race is the second richest offering for 2-year-olds in North American behind the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
The Jackpot will anchor a card of eight stakes worth a cumulative $2.5 million on Nov. 20. There will be a special day post of 1 p.m. Central. Last year, Rule won the Delta Jackpot.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After winning the 2007 Sleepy Hollow Stakes en route to a statebred juvenile championship, Giant Moon has been unable to make it back for New York Showcase Day. A variety of ailments – stemming from foot issues – kept him from making the Empire Classic in each of the last two years.
This year, though, Giant Moon has managed to stay healthy and on Saturday he will be one of 11 runners to contest the 1 1/8 miles of the $200,000 Empire Classic, the centerpiece of a 10-race card that includes seven stakes for New York-breds totaling $900,000 in purses.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The front-running Acquired Cat will certainly be a deserving favorite in Friday’s featured turf sprint at Belmont Park. But with the presence of other speed horses in the field and the likelihood of a turf course with plenty of give to it, Acquired Cat’s run of five consecutive turf sprint victories could be in jeopardy.