INGLEWOOD, Calif. – There is still time for Dancing in Silks to salvage his 2010 season.
The winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in a 25-1 upset, Dancing in Silks has lost three subsequent starts, making his appearance in Saturday’s $250,000 Ancient Title Stakes at Hollywood Park pivotal for owner Ken Kinakin and trainer Carla Gaines’s plans for the rest of the year.
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.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Prince Will I Am may not have been ready for the big stage early in the year, but if his last two races were any indication, he could be ready to take New York by storm in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Jamaica Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park.
In a contentious renewal of the Jamaica, restricted to 3-year-olds and scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf, Prince Will I Am should offer some value in the 11-horse field that includes stakes winners Krypton, Lethal Combination, Teaks North, and Beau Choix.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher may have four of the nine horses entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont Park, but trainer Tony Dutrow thinks he has the one.
Dutrow will send out Joyful Victory against the Pletcher quartet of R Heat Lightning, Valiant Passion, Tap for Luck, and Maple Forest in the $300,000 Frizette, a one-turn mile race that awards the winner an automatic berth in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Oak Tree at Hollywood Park meeting will run an additional day on Wednesday, Oct. 27 to make up for the rainout on Wednesday of this week, the track announced Thursday.
Hollywood Park canceled its eight-race Wednesday program after a significant downpour in late morning led to erosion in two places on the backstretch.
Trainer Fabrice Chappet was at Remington Park on Thursday morning, far from his yard in Chantilly, France. He is in town to run Paris Vegas in Sunday’s $400,000 Oklahoma Derby, the first of two international shippers Chappet has targeting upcoming stakes in the United States. The other is Blue Panis, whom he said arrived at Hollywood Park from Paris on Wednesday night to compete in next weekend’s Grade 2, $150,000 Oak Tree Derby.
“We have a big American week,” said Chappet.
E TOBICOKE, Ontario – The unbeaten Delightful Mary will try to punch her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday at Woodbine in the $225,000 Mazarine Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile test for 2-year-old fillies.
Delightful Mary was a $500,000 2-year-old purchase by John Oxley. She won her six-furlong debut over a quality field Aug. 8, while getting a 75 Beyer Speed Figure. Five weeks later, she led throughout a mile and 70-yard allowance, scoring by eight lengths with a 64 Beyer.
Trainer Mark Casse said he became enamored with Delightful Mary at the OBS April sale in Florida.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Hastings will close its 2010 season with a bang and a whimper.
Four stakes races with full fields highlight the weekend, including Saturday’s Grade 3 Ballerina and Sunday’s Grade 3 Premiers, which each drew the maximum 12 horses. Monday’s Jack and Sadie Diamond Futurities close Friday, and by Thursday morning there were 12 colts and geldings entered in the Jack Diamond Futurity and nine fillies in the Sadie Diamond.
Russell Road is among 10 former winners of West Virginia Breeders’ Classic races among the pre-entries for this year’s event on Saturday, Oct. 16, at Charles Town.
The 4-year-old Russell Road will attempt to become the fifth horse to win the premier race for West Virginia-breds, the $500,000 Classic, for the second time. He won last year’s race by 8 1/2 lengths, but hasn’t been quite as consistent this season, winning 3 of 7 starts. A win in the Classic would push his career earnings past $1 million.