ELMONT, N.Y. – The absence of multiple stakes winner Bug Juice from the field has appeared to make Saturday’s $100,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes a wide-open affair.
Stakes winners Bandbox and Never Right Joey head the field of 11 set to contest seven furlongs over Belmont Park’s main track. Bandbox, a son of Tapit, has already handled seven furlongs, but that was around two turns in the Charles Town Juvenile on Sept. 18.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Usual Q.T. will start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 6, trainer Jim Cassidy said on Thursday.
After considering a start in the California Cup Mile at Hollywood Park on Oct. 30, Cassidy and Don Van, who leads the partnership that owns the 4-year-old, have opted for the BC Mile.
“I told him, ‘Don, the horse is doing great,’ ” Cassidy said, noting that The Usual Q.T. worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 on Wednesday. “It was a really nice work. He’s back to his old self.”
R Boy Bill has never been beaten on turf and if he keeps his streak alive Saturday night in the $75,000 El Joven for 2-year-olds at Retama Park near San Antonio, he could see action in the Breeders’ Cup.
The El Joven and the $75,000 La Senorita for 2-year-old fillies, close out the Retama meet. Both races are run over a mile on turf, with the La Senorita drawing stakes winners Jazzy Jessy, Tiger Girl, and Little Widow Maker.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Grade 1 stakes winners Haynesfield and Rightly So are being prepared for Breeders’ Cup races. The multiple Grade 3 winning turf horse Get Serious is getting a vacation, pointing to a 2011 campaign. Bug Juice, leader of the state-bred juvenile division, is awaiting the $1 million Delta Jackpot
Despite the lack of participation by the cream of this year’s state-bred crop in Saturday’s New York Showcase Day program at Belmont Park, the 10-race card still has plenty to offer horsemen and horseplayers alike.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Hudson and the Iroquois, a pair of $125,000 sprints, figure prominently in both pick-four sequences on the Showcase Day program.
The six-furlong Hudson for males goes as race 2 and starts the early pick four; the seven-furlong Iroquois for fillies and mares goes as race 8 and is the second leg of a $300,000 guaranteed late pick four.
The Hudson drew a field of eight, headed by last year’s winner, Driven by Success, and Endless Circle, who will be looking for his eighth victory of the year.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Alan Goldberg blames himself for Straight Story’s last-place finish in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile last month.
“The trainer gave the jockey poor instructions,” said Goldberg, who said he instructed jockey Rajiv Maragh to take a hold of the free-running colt. “He did everything I asked him to do and the horse resented every part of it. You can’t change horses, I know that. Just throw it out. Hopefully, he’ll rebound and run well.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. − McKenzies Way is in desperate need for a start in Saturday’s $55,000 Jack Goodman Stakes at Hollywood Park.
“He’s tearing the place up,” trainer Robert Troeger said. “He’s ready to run. He’s busted three feed tubs and a water bucket. He’s working on his webbing now.”
McKenzies Way has one victory in three starts, a maiden race at Del Mar on Aug. 7, and was ninth of 11 in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity over seven furlongs Sept. 8. The race distance and circumstances worked against him that day, Troeger said.
Mixed Up, the winner of the 2009 Eclipse Award for top steeplechase horse, headlines a field of 12 in the Grade 1, $250,000 Grand National on Saturday at Far Hills in New Jersey.
Though Mixed Up brings the most name recognition into the 2 5/8-mile race over national fences, the 11-year-old gelding will be challenged by a number of horses who have posted better records this year. Mixed Up has two fifth-place finishes in stakes races this year, along with a recent second-place finish in a training race on Oct. 9 in Virginia.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Negligee has had two races over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland – one terrific, one not so much. A New York-based filly, she won the Grade 1 Alcibiades here last fall, then was seventh of eight in the Grade 1 Ashland in the spring.
A rubber match of sorts comes Saturday, when Negligee returns for yet another major stakes at Keeneland, the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at seven furlongs. Despite a sixth-place finish in her recent comeback at Belmont Park, Negligee figures to be among the lukewarm favorites in a wide-open field of 3-year-old fillies.
MIAMI – The best 2-year-old currently stabled in South Florida is the undefeated, Breeders’ Cup-bound Awesome Feather. The second best may be a colt with only a single start under his belt, the impressive maiden winner High Level Jeff, who won his debut here at Calder by eight widening lengths while earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure when sent 5 1/2 furlongs on Oct. 10.