ELMONT, N.Y. – It is perhaps fitting that at the bottom of the overnight for Friday’s card at Belmont reads the following: “Aqueduct winter stall applications are due November 1.”
Friday’s nine-race card lacks a true feature, and with significant rain predicted Thursday night into Friday, there is a good chance that all five races scheduled for the turf will be moved to the main track, making it appear even more like a winter card at the Big A.
Two of the last three winners of the $100,000 Charles Town Dash, along with this year’s runner-up, are among a full field of 10 older ultra-short sprint specialists who will contest Friday night’s $50,000 Jefferson County Commission Handicap at Charles Town.
The 4 1/2-furlong Jefferson County attracted 2010 Dash winner Immortal Eyes, 2008 Dash champion Joey P., and Ju Jitsu Jax, who finished just a half-length behind Immortal Eyes when they met in mid-June.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The live mutuel handle at Hastings took a significant downturn in 2010. The gross all-sources handle of $30,558,648 was 25 percent lower than the $41,009,254 wagered in 2009. The daily average of $430,403 over the 71 days was off by 22 percent from the $554,179 averaged a year ago over 74 days.
The ontrack handle was also down by 25 percent – $10,528,188 compared with $14,140,856 in 2009.
MIAMI – While the undefeated Awesome Feather is clearly the horse to beat and the star of the show in Saturday’s My Dear Girl Stakes, there are several fillies in the field with a license to give the favorite a run for her money as she attempts to complete a sweep of the filly division of the Florida Stallion Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Redwood, making his second trans-Atlantic journey in just over a month, was back at Woodbine on Tuesday evening and has been made the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International.
Post positions for the Canadian International were drawn at a special ceremony in the trackside tent here Wednesday, and Redwood drew the No. 8 slot in the field of nine for the 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Evening Jewel and Check the Label will start alongside each other as the favorites Saturday in the $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, the final Grade 1 race of the Keeneland fall meet.
Eight 3-year-old fillies were in the box when entries were drawn Wednesday for the QE II, a 1 1/8-mile turf race that once again has come up exceedingly tough. Evening Jewel has been first or second in her seven starts this year, all of them graded stakes, while Check the Label enters with a four-race win streak, all of them graded, too.
If trainer Charles Lopresti still had even an inkling of a notion of running his Grade 1 winner Here Comes Ben in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint as opposed to his first choice, the Dirt Mile, it ended late last Friday afternoon, immediately after his up-and-coming 3-year-old Wise Dan upset Keeneland’s Grade 3 Phoenix.
“I think we’re going in the Sprint with him,” Lopresti said of Wise Dan on Tuesday. “He came out of that race really good. He didn’t really act like he ran at all. It’s pretty scary. He was awesome.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield planned to have a pair of entrants for both Saturday’s $2 million Canadian International and $1 million E.P. Taylor Stakes.
And while Attfield’s participation in major races is hardly newsworthy, it is interesting to note that his 352 career stakes victories do not include scores in either of those Grade 1 turf events.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Maryland-based trainer Steve Klesaris has compiled solid numbers at Woodbine this year, from a limited number of starters. He appears to have the one to beat in Friday’s headliner, Major Momentum, who makes his local debut over six furlongs in the $62,500 claimer for 3-year-olds.
Major Momentum has won three times in five starts the year. He graduated over a sloppy track early at the Gulfstream meet in January but wasn’t an impact player there in a subsequent allowance on the grass.
It’s all about the numbers at Los Alamitos on Friday night.
The 12-race program is dedicated to time trials for the Golden State Million Futurity over 400 yards. The 10 fastest qualifying times, regardless of finishing positions, earn berths in the final on Oct. 29. For bettors, there is a built-in challenge of chasing a pick six carryover of $32,332, a high sum for Los Alamitos.