Informed Decision breezed over the Presque Isle surface Thursday morning, and trainer Jonathan Sheppard pronounced the 2009 Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter “ready to give a good account of herself” in Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Masters Stakes.
The Masters is the richest at Presque Isle, the northwestern Pennsylvania track where purses are fueled by revenue from 2,000 slot machines.
POMONA, Calif. – The California-bred filly U R All That I Am over achieved most of 2009. She started with a debut victory in a $12,500 maiden-claimer, ended with an autumn stakes win at Hollywood Park, and won 6 of 9 overall.
While victories were less frequent in 2010, U R All That I Am regained peak form in spring, winning two stakes at Hollywood for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Then she came crashing to earth. She misfired in two stakes on the Del Mar grass – fifth as the favorite each time.
KD at a glance; for Sat.RACING SCHEDULE: Sept. 11, 13, 18, 20.POST TIME: Saturdays (with Turfway), 12:10 p.m. Central; Mondays (solo), 1:30 p.m.ADMISSION and PARKING: Free.HIGHLIGHTS: Three-race, $250,000 Kentucky Cup turf series on Saturday.PHONE: (270) 586-7778.INTERNET: kentuckydowns.com.By Marty McGee
Evidently the news of his demise was premature. Even Jonathan Sheppard had grave doubts that Cloudy’s Knight would ever see another racetrack when revealing that the 10-year-old gelding had suffered an injury in April, but here they are, horse, and trainer, ready to go again.
Cherokee’s Goal, who finished a solid second in the Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs, should be set to score in Saturday’s $25,000 Saskatchewan Derby at Marquis Downs.
The Saskatchewan Derby, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds, traditionally is the closing-day feature but the meeting was extended by two days due to weather-related cancellations and will wind up next Saturday.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – The fall portion of the Monmouth Park season doesn’t have a snappy title like the “Elite Summer Meet” that concluded on Labor Day.
It also doesn’t have the cachet of this past summer when Monmouth handed out record purse money. The summer experiment of running fewer days was a success with attendance and handle figures showing huge gains.
But that was only the first half of the trial. Now comes a key test starting Saturday to see how well the balance of the season holds up.
DEL MAR, Calif. – J P’s Gusto is by Successful Appeal and out of a mare by Caller I.D., not exactly a pedigree that suggests distance racing would be his forte. But the manner in which he won the Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day Wednesday gives his trainer, David Hofmans, the confidence that J P’s Gusto can stretch out, at least to 1 1/16 miles, the distance of his next scheduled race, the Norfolk Stakes on Oct. 2 during the Oak Tree meeting at Hollywood Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Simply Splendid, who had been instrumental in getting trainer Gail Cox off to a sensational start this year, has been retired.
Simply Splendid, who also is owned by Cox in partnership with John Menary, last saw action here July 25 when she finished second in the 1 1/16-mile Ontario Matron.
And, while Cox had considered keeping on with Simply Splendid for the Sept. 18 Canadian and perhaps the Oct. 16 E.P. Taylor, she elected to put her away, with her next target being the November sale at Keeneland.
Portland Meadows has scheduled 22 stakes for its 2010-11 meet, topped by the $80,000 Portland Meadows Oaks on Jan. 29, 2011. The Portland Meadows meeting runs from Oct. 4 to March 30, 2011.
The Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at one mile, is a part of the newly created Black-Eyed Susan 2.2 bonus program. Implemented by Portland Meadows’ owner, MI Developments, the Black-Eyed Susan 2.2 awards a bonus of up to $2.2 million to the owners of a filly who wins a series of stakes at MI Developments tracks, and then wins the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico on May 20, 2011.
Whose turn is it to win the third leg of the Northlands Park marathon series? So far there have been two different winners in the series for 3-year-olds and up that is run under starter handicap conditions, and none of the seven horses entered in the third leg, which goes as race 8 on the nine-race card, have gone the 1 5/8-mile distance. It appears to be anyone’s race.
A budding rivalry between two Northern California-based colts, a Jerry Hollendorfer-trained entry, the local debut of a highly regarded colt from a Hall of Fame trainer, and a two-time winner from Ireland make Saturday’s $50,000 Angel Island one of the most anticipated stakes races of the year at Golden Gate Fields.
The 1 1/16-mile Tapeta race for 2-year-olds rematches the undefeated two-time stakes winner Luckarack against King Cola, who was the runner-up to Luckarack in the six-furlong Cavonnier on Aug. 14 at Santa Rosa.