LEXINGTON, Ky. – Racing fans in Kentucky and beyond will spend the next few days with one eye on Keeneland and the other on Breeders’ Cup developments. It has become a rite of late October, when Keeneland wraps up its front-loaded meet by playing out the string with programs that, understandably, might best be described as standard fare.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though her breeding suggests she could be effective on turf, synthetics or in dirt routes, Kid Kate has proven best in one-turn dirt sprints. That’s a fact her connections hope continues to be proven in Wednesday’s $70,000 Catinca Stakes at Belmont Park.
The Catinica, a 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies, goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that not only starts the final week of racing at Belmont but also includes a $38,953 pick six carryover. The pick six begins with race 4.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Appealing Afare has not raced since June. No matter. Trainer Doug O’Neill said she is ready to fire Wednesday in a first-level allowance sprint at Hollywood Park.
“She’s doing great, she’s solid,” O’Neill said.
Vision in Gold has not raced since June, and it does matter. Trainer Ron Ellis believes she needs farther than six furlongs and time to grow into her 17-hands frame. He also did not discount her chances entirely.
“She’s a route filly, but she’s the classiest filly in there,” Ellis said.
Short Sale came from near the back of the pack early to draw clear and win the $88,300 Crown Ambassador for 2-year-olds at Hoosier Park Sunday.
Short Sale broke slowly in the 11-horse field under Orlando Mojica. Short Sale was angled out into the stretch and rallied to win by 1 1/2 lengths.
Rumors Everywhere set the pace and held on for second, three-quarters a length in front of I See a Shark in third.
Short Sale ran the six furlongs over a sloppy track in 1.13.60 and returned $10.60 to win. Trained by Ron Brown, Short Sale has now won 2 of his 3 starts.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Things did not go Krz Exec’s way in a recent Ontario-sired stakes, and she’s certainly eligible to rebound in Wednesday’s seventh race at Woodbine. The second-level optional claimer for fillies and mares will be run over seven furlongs on the Polytrack, for a purse of $76,200.
Krz Exec, a 5-year-old trained by Mike DePaulo, won three restricted stakes during her formative years, two of which were on Polytrack. Her lone win in seven starts last year came in an optional claimer, but she was a minor player in several stakes.
Perhaps trainer Michael Lenzini shouldn’t have been so surprised by Our Minesweeper’s $40.20 upset in Saturday’s Oakland Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
By Lenzini’s own admission, Our Minesweeper had done a lot of growing up since his last start, when he bolted on the first turn of the Alcatraz on May 15.
“I thought maybe he’d run third or fourth and get something out of it,” said Lenzini of the Oakland.
Our Minesweeper did better than that, scoring by one length over Restless Youth while covering six furlongs in 1:08.84.
“I was totally amazed,” Lenzini said.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Jimmy Toner glanced at his stopwatch after Winter Memories had concluded a five-furlong workout over Belmont Park’s inner turf course Monday morning and was shocked at what it read: 58.50 seconds. Admitting that he can be a little quick on the trigger finger, Toner figured to hear a slower time when he called the official track clockers.
Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, trainer Steve Asmussen, and jockey Ken Tohill won their second straight 2-year-old stakes of the Zia Park meet on Sunday, when they teamed with Pulgarcito in the in the $55,000 Governor’s Cup. Pulgarcito's win came on the heels of their score with Fastation in last weekend’s $55,000 Permian Basin for 2-year-old fillies at the Hobbs, N.M. track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Gone Rebel led throughout Sunday’s $60,080 Anoakia Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Hollywood Park to win her first stakes and provide further evidence of the strength of the Grade 1 Darley Debutante at Del Mar on Sept. 4.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sunday morning marked the first of 12 consecutive days of Clocker Reports leading up to the 2010 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs Nov. 5-6. And with it came the first major decision of the Breeders’ Cup season: Stay onsite in Louisville where a handful of Breeders’ Cup horses were scheduled to work, including Classic contenders Haynesfield and Espoir City, or head up the turnpike to Keeneland where only two Cup hopefuls were expected to breeze.
