OKLAHOMA CITY – Pleasant Prince earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for his win Sunday in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park and on Monday shipped back to the Keeneland base of his trainer, Wesley Ward.
Pleasant Prince’s next start is likely to come in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Blind Luck breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds on a foggy Monday morning at Hollywood Park, her first workout since a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing on Oct. 2.
The five-time stakes winner this year worked alone, an exercise that was her first work in the build-up to the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5. Over the next few weeks, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said he will not overly train Blind Luck before she races in Kentucky.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The whirlwind that has become a staple of opening weekend of the Keeneland fall meet once again has everybody trying to catch their breath following a rapid-fire succession of important racing events.
“Man, what a weekend,” Keeneland’s president, Nick Nicholson, said after the Sunday card. “It’s been tough keeping up with everything that’s gone on.”
The president of Arlington Park, Roy Arnold, has resigned, the track’s owner, Churchill Downs Inc., announced Monday.
Arnold’s resignation is effective immediately, but he will stay on as a consultant during “a transition period,” according to a press release. Churchill Downs Inc. has not yet named Arnold’s replacement.
Arnold said in the release that he was leaving “to explore new challenges and opportunities.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Saturday’s Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International took a hit over the weekend with the news that Arctic Cosmos would not be participating.
Arctic Cosmos, a Group 1 winner in England for trainer John Gosden, had been listed last week as a probable starter and would have been among the favorites for the 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and upward.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The local 2-year-olds got a chance to strut their stuff here in last weekend’s Mazarine and Grey stakes, a pair of Grade 3 races at 1 1/16 miles that are positioned as possible stepping-stones to the Breeders’ Cup.
And the best performance, from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint, went to the filly Wyomia, who earned a 91 for her front-running 2 3/4-length tour de force in Saturday’s $228,000 Mazarine.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The barrage of stakes run during the opening FallStars Weekend at Keeneland created the predictable void for the first full week of racing here, although a nine-race Wednesday card is not without a combination of class and intrigue.
The Q-Racing Aces, a group of Quarter Horse racing experts formed by the American Quarter Horse Association to promote and educate the racing public on the Quarter Horse game, will be on hand at Turf Paradise this weekend, Oct. 16-17. Their visit coincides with three Quarter Horse stakes to be run at the Phoenix track Sunday.
They will hold a free handicapping seminar Saturday at 11 a.m. in the grandstand and will give away $2 vouchers to those attending.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Smokey Fire and Field Commission, two of the top sprinters at Woodbine, may clash over seven furlongs Wednesday night in the $100,000 Mt. Sassafras Stakes. There is a chance Field Commission could scratch in favor of Saturday’s $500,000 Nearctic Stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Quick Enough may have had the toughest trip of the Del Mar meeting this summer.
In the Green Flash Handicap over five furlongs on turf against seven rivals, he was blocked in the stretch and still finished in a dead heat for second, a nose behind California Flag.
Quick Enough faces another bulky field in Monday’s $100,000 Morvich Handicap at Hollywood Park. This time, the stakes are higher. A win could lead to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6.