LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Everyday horseplayers in North America have become accustomed to lower wagering increments, but at major events such as the Kentucky Derby and Oaks and the Breeders’ Cup, some of those bets have not been available.
That will all change this weekend. Ten-cent superfectas, along with 50-cent trifectas, pick threes, and pick fours, will be sold on the Friday and Saturday Breeders’ Cup cards at Churchill Downs and at all participating wagering outlets.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Perhaps before the end of the year, and maybe in the next month, trainer Vladimir Cerin will record the 1,000th win of his career.
Through Tuesday, Cerin had 995 wins, a figure boosted by one last Sunday when Briecat pulled an upset in the Grade 2 Las Palmas Handicap for fillies and mares over a mile on turf at Hollywood Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tell a Kelly disappointed those handicappers who made her the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 1 Oak Leaf at Hollywood Park five weeks ago. Those willing to forgive her loss to Rigoletta in that race could make their money back and then some when she runs back in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Don’t go too far.
The conclusion of the five-week Oak Tree at Hollywood Park meeting on Sunday represented only the first half of the racing calendar at Hollywood Park this fall. The track opens its traditional autumn meeting on Thursday evening, with an eight-race program.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – School Girl gets some class relief in Thursday’s fifth race at Woodbine, and should be well backed in the $50,000 claimer for fillies and mares.
School Girl earned black type last November, when she wound up second in the $50,000 Holiday Inaugural Stakes at Turfway. After spending part of last winter at the Fair Grounds, she went to Keeneland, where she finished second for $32,000, in a sprint from which she was claimed by owner-trainer Steve Asmussen.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse will be at Churchill Downs on Friday, sending out Delightful Mary for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and will stay on to observe the festivities there on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Casse’s son and assistant, Norman, will be looking to keep the home fires burning on Saturday, with Tasty Temptation set to go postward in the 1 1/4-mile Maple Leaf Stakes for fillies and mares.
Tasty Temptation has not run since late August.
Alex and JoAnn Lieblong jumped into the racing game 15 years ago to help erase the memory of a bizarre and trying ordeal, and on Saturday they will participate at the sports highest level when Telling attempts to give the couple a Breeders’ Cup win in the $3 million Turf.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Even if he had never seen the past-performance lines on Battle of Hastings, Greg Fox has seen enough in recent mornings to know what the 4-year-old gelding is all about.
“He’s absolutely reliable and honest,” said Fox.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The way you could tell Zenyatta was getting close to the Churchill Downs backstretch was by the helicopter following her convoy from the airport. Not just a chopper, but a police escort leading the gleaming Creech Horse Transportation semi-trailer as it took the short drive from nearby Standiford Field, where Zenyatta’s plane had landed at 11:35, to Churchill. The Creech truck was from Troy, Mo., but that was no Trojan horse who descended the steps of the trailer just past noon on Tuesday.
