Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup winner Awesome Gem is headed toward Friday's 1 3/4-mile Breeder's Cup Marathon on the Churchill main track, rather than the Saturday's Dirt Mile, said Jeff Lifson, vice president of Midwest operations for West Point Thoroughbreds.
After being pre-entered in both races Monday, with the Dirt Mile listed as first preference, the switch comes as somewhat of a surprise.
Five Breeders’ Cup horses stabled at Saratoga put in workouts on Friday, including top Dirt Mile contender Tizway, who went five furlongs in 1:00.91 over the Oklahoma training track.
According to trainer James Bond, Tizway, winner of the Grade 2 Kelso Breeders’ Cup in his last start, went his first quarter in 13 seconds and got his final quarter in 23.60 seconds.
“He went great,” Bond said. “Physically, he couldn’t be any better. I can’t tell you how great I feel.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif.– Regardless of what happens in the sixth and seventh races at Hollywood Park on Sunday, the Oak Tree meeting has been an outstanding campaign for trainer Kristin Mulhall.
Thursday, she won an allowance race with Square Deal, who ran the fastest six furlongs of the meet in 1:08.99 and gave Mulhall her sixth winner from nine starters at the meeting.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – This normally happens in the spring at Churchill Downs, not in the fall. A race meet opens to tremendous anticipation of what lies straight ahead, but it is usually the Kentucky Derby that awaits, not the Breeders’ Cup.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – John T. Ward Jr. would never be one to get ahead of himself, but a man’s got to have a plan, doesn’t he? That’s what the trainer of a good 2-year-old does, anyway.
“We’re going to work backward from the Kentucky Oaks with this filly,” Ward said of Dancinginherdreams, a spectacular recent maiden winner at Keeneland and one of the favorites for the Grade 2, $150,000 Pocahontas Stakes on the opening-day program Sunday at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Barring some sort of unprecedented coup in the Breeders’ Cup, Julien Leparoux won’t repeat as the Eclipse champion jockey. The 27-year-old Frenchman was honored last year with that ultimate tribute, but a number of factors have conspired against him in keeping the 2010 Eclipse from being in close reach.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Taking a page from the playbook of other jurisdictions, the New York Racing Association on Sunday will treat its fans to an entire card of races for 2-year-olds, including four overnight stakes, on closing day at Belmont Park.
Any race that runs with eight or more betting interests will trigger a $10,000 purse increase. Seven of the nine races drew eight or more betting interests. Following Sunday’s card, racing on this circuit moves to Aqueduct beginning Friday.
Glory Be Mine’s bid to win her seventh straight race will be one of the focal points of the $2 million New Mexico Cup at Zia Park on Sunday. The program is comprised of 11 stakes, with seven for Thoroughbreds and four for Quarter Horses. All of the races are for horses bred in New Mexico, and with its purse structure, the restricted series is the richest card of its kind in North America.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A leaderless California female turf division seeks clarity Sunday at Hollywood Park, closing day of the Oak Tree meet. Racing continues Thursday night, the opening program of the traditional autumn race meet at Hollywood.
Eight fillies and mares entered the Grade 2 Las Palmas Handicap, a mile grass race won last year by Tuscan Evening. She won eight graded stakes, including six straight, before her tragic death from a heart attack in August.