ETOBICOKE, Ontario − Five shippers from Europe and four from the U.S. are among the prospective field of 12 in Saturday’s Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International at Woodbine.
The first wave of the European contingent − Arctic Cosmos, Redwood, Chinchon, and More Wells − is scheduled to arrive from overseas Tuesday. Joshua Tree is expected to arrive Wednesday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Reade Baker should be loaded for bear in Sunday’s $225,000 Grey Stakes at Woodbine, when he runs Bear’s Future and Rockin Heat in the 1 1/16-mile route for 2-year-olds.
Bear’s Future won both of his races convincingly over seven furlongs, including the Sept. 12 Swynford Stakes, for which he got a Beyer Speed Figure of 75.
Baker is confident that Bear’s Future, a son of Rockport Harbor, will handle two turns.
“He acts like it would probably be better for him,” said Baker. “He’s bred that way too. He’s very laid-back.”
The $50,000 Canadian Juvenile at Northlands Park on Sunday drew 10 2-year-olds but it shapes up as a match race between Bond James Bond and Boomtown Brat. The one-mile feature will go as the last race on the nine-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – There will be an embarrassment of riches Saturday at Keeneland, and that’s forgetting for a moment the $4.3 million that Gio Ponti has amassed. It’s more the cumulative sum of all the big-money horses, Gio Ponti included, who will be making their final starts before the Breeders’ Cup.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Mister Marti Gras won a rich Indiana Downs turf stakes and was second in the American Derby. Call Shot finished a solid third in the $100,000 Dania Beach last winter at Gulfstream, his lone turf start. Dean’s Kitten was third in the American Derby and fifth in the Secretariat, while Cherokee Lord set the pace and held fourth in the Secretariat. Asphalt’s high-water mark came April 30, when he was second in the American Turf. A pretty clear picture of these entrants in the Hawthorne Derby comes forth: Capable, not electric.
Trainer Anthony Pecoraro keeps trying to run I’m Steppin’ It Up on turf. But since the best race of the 2-year-old colt’s brief career came going two turns on the main track, Pecoraro is giving in to what I’m Steppin’ It Up seems to do best by entering him in the $75,000 Dover Stakes at Delaware Park.
I’m Steppin’ It Up is among four runners in the field of nine 2-year-olds with a win at a mile or longer, and his 74 Beyer Speed Figure for his 10 1/4-length romp against maidens on Aug. 16 at Delaware is the best among that group.
Comedero, a five-time stakes winner in sprints this season, returns to his best distance of six furlongs after an unsuccessful experiment in the mile-and-70-yard Smarty Jones Stakes a month ago when he returns to suburban Philadelphia for Saturday’s $250,000 Gallant Bob Handicap, the last major stakes of the season at Parx Racing.
MIAMI – The Spend a Buck Handicap, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, will again highlight the undercard for next Saturday’s rich Festival of the Sun program at Calder.
The Spend a Buck lured 14 nominations, including defending champion Mambo Meister. The list also includes a trio of graded stakes tested veterans who have been campaigning up north this summer, Pick Six, March to Victory and Mad Flatter. Both Pick Six and March to Victory are trained by Earnest Oare.
LEXINGTON, Ky. − It was a year ago this weekend that Proviso announced herself, with great flair, as one to watch out for, if not avoid. She crossed the wire first in the Spinster Stakes, but only after making a sudden shift in deep stretch that forced Keeneland’s stewards to disqualify her.
A year later, Proviso has developed into one of the leading female turf runners in the country. She has won three straight Grade 1 races and will go for a fourth Saturday, when she heads a field of nine in the $400,000 First Lady at Keeneland.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher knows it would be unrealistic to expect Uncle Mo to run better in Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park than he did winning his debut six weeks ago at Saratoga.
Pletcher also knows that Uncle Mo shouldn’t have to run better in order to win.
“It’s not very often you have one stepping up from a maiden to a Grade 1 that you’re hoping to run as well as he did in a maiden race,” Pletcher said. “But if he does, it should be good enough.”
More than good enough, probably.