Each of Neeyo’s last four Beyer Speed Figures are either 87 or 88, which makes the 4-year-old colt not only consistent but by far the fastest runner in the first of two $75,000 stakes restricted to Pennsylvania-breds on Friday night’s card at Penn National Race Course.
But because Neeyo has run just once in the past 14 months and never beyond seven furlongs, he is far from a lock in the 1 1/16-mile Nepal.
ELMONT, N.Y. – No one hit the pick six at Belmont on Sunday or Monday, resulting in a $128,318 carryover as racing resumes Thursday. The pick six begins with race 4 at 2:35 p.m. Eastern.
After a freak storm Monday night that produced quarter-sized hail accompanied by lightning, and with a 60-percent chance of showers in the forecast for Thursday afternoon, it’s anyone’s guess whether any or all of three scheduled grass races in the sequence will stay on.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Danny Gargan grew up in Louisville in the hard-scrabble Churchill Downs neighborhood, not exactly a breeding ground for owners who run horses in stakes races at Keeneland. Yet there Gargan will be Thursday, rubbing elbows in the Keeneland paddock with the well-heeled and erudite, eager to see his 2-year-old filly, Silent Joy, start as one of the contenders in a wide-open 20th running of the $150,000 Jessamine Stakes.
Santa Anita began the removal of its Pro-Ride synthetic track Monday and may finalize the composition of the conventional dirt track that will be installed this fall in coming days, track president George Haines said Tuesday.
Heavy equipment began removing the synthetic track Monday, a process that will take about three weeks to complete, Haines said. A new base is tentatively scheduled to be installed in the first two weeks of November, followed by a three-week process to install the upper layers of the surface.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Calvin Borel will ride the Grade 1 winner Tell a Kelly in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, trainer John Sadler said on Monday.
Borel will ride Tell a Kelly for the first time in the Juvenile Fillies, which is run over 1 1/16 miles and plays a major role in the determination of the champion 2-year-old filly.
“He’s the man at Churchill Downs,” Sadler said. “She’s pretty easy to ride.”
A $40,000 claimer in August, Quick Enough has proven good enough in recent starts to go to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 6 following his victory in Monday's $100,000 Morvich Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Quick Enough had an ideal trip in the Grade 3 Morvich over six furlongs on turf, stalking pacesetter Lt. Hopeful to early stretch and outfinishing Dilemma to win by 1 1/2 lengths. The Morvich was part of the Breeders' Cup Win and You're In program, assuring an automatic berth to the winner for the BC Turf Sprint, subject to the payment of entry fees.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – With a number of European and American shippers yet to arrive, Tuesday was a rather quiet day on the Canadian International Day front.
The $2 million Canadian International, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and upward, will be one of three Grade 1 turf stakes on Saturday’s card, along with the $1 million E.P. Taylor for fillies and mares and the $500,000 Nearctic for 3-year-olds and upward.
The E.P. Taylor goes at 1 1/4 miles and the Nearctic at six furlongs.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Philip Lebherz was in the winner’s circle after Smiling Tiger’s win in the Ancient Title Stakes at Hollywood Park last Saturday when he yelled two words that summed up the colt’s accomplishments in the last 75 days. "Breeders’ Cup!" Lebherz shouted to no one in particular. Everyone within earshot range knew what he meant.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jim Cassidy would like to run Evening Jewel in the Breeders’ Cup, but first things first. The veteran California trainer will be at Keeneland on Saturday to run the standout filly in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, and “if she runs big in there, then we can start looking at our options,” Cassidy said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – How would trainer Ian Black have reacted at the beginning of the season if he had been told that he would be sending out Fifty Proof as a legitimate contender in the Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International?
“I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” Black said. “But maybe that’s just my optimistic nature.”
Black speaks with tongue in cheek, but there is no jest in stating that Fifty Proof will be in with a fighting chance as he makes just his second stakes appearance in Saturday’s Canadian International, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up.