ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Smokey Fire turned back a stern challenge from Ice Bear to capture the $100,000 Mt. Sassafras Stakes as the heavy favorite Wednesday night at Woodbine.
Daniel Be Good set slow fractions in the seven-furlong sprint for Ontario-breds, which was reduced to a four-horse field with the scratches of Field Commission and R Shining Hope.
Pashito the Che barely kept his perfect record at Delaware Park intact when he held off a late rush from Silver Edition to win Wednesday’s $50,000 Hard Spun Stakes by a nose.
A 4-year-old trained by Scott Lake, Pashito the Che ($3.20), the 3-2 favorite in a field of five older sprinters, set a pressured pace and opened up a two-length lead with a furlong remaining, then was all out to nip the 9-1 Silver Edition.
The winning time over a fast track was 1:09.44.
Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien is planning on sending the promising Galileo filly Together as part of his Breeders’ Cup contingent, and she could be favored in the Grade 2 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Together won her maiden at first asking July 15, in the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown. She subsequently finished third in the Group 2 Keeneland Debutante and fourth in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud, two stakes which were both run at the Curragh.
Trainer Ken McPeek wants to keep Harlan’s Ruby at 1 1/16 miles, so the filly who won her maiden on turf but ran second in last weekend’s Alcibiades on Polytrack at Keeneland will head to the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies rather than the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
“She needs the mile and a sixteenth,” McPeek said of the distance of the Juvenile Fillies.
A productive handicapping angle will be offered in the first of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races Nov. 5-6 at Churchill Downs if travel plans materialize for a European 3-year-old with appreciably upward form.
Bright Horizon, romping winner of a two-mile turf handicap at the Curragh in Ireland on Sept. 26, will target the BC Marathon, according to news reports from Europe that quoted trainer Aidan O’Brien. It makes sense, based on a time-honored angle. That is, an improving horse moving up in class in the fall of its 3-year-old season.
The entry of Workforce and Behkabad enrich what had appeared to be a lackluster Turf two weeks ago. Although a final decision about the participation of Arc winner Workforce will not be made until after the weekend, he rates the favorite’s chance at Churchill.
The final prep race did little to thin out what is shaping up as a large and terrific field for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, as all of the top contenders from the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes last weekend at Keeneland are moving forward to the seven-furlong race on Nov. 5.
With a last-to-first rally in Sunday’s Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland, Rogue Romance punched his ticket for the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6. But the Breeders’ Cup race in which he competes – either the $2 million Juvenile or the $1 million Juvenile Turf – remains undecided.
Uncle Mo and Boys At Tosconova certainly bring star power to this year’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. It remains to be seen how much depth there will be to this year’s field.The connections of several good 2-year-olds have yet to commit to the Juvenile. That list includes J.B.’s Thunder, the front-running winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, and To Honor and Serve, a very good-looking maiden winner at Belmont Park.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington Park named Tony Petrillo as its general manager on Wednesday, two days after the track’s parent company, Churchill Downs Inc., announced that the track’s president, Roy Arnold had resigned, effective immediately.
In its recent history, Arlington has gone outside the company to hire leading executives, but Petrillo has worked at Arlington for 17 years, most recently serving as vice president of facilities and operations.