ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Riding the River could have been claimed for $16,000 in his debut here at Woodbine on April 16.
On Saturday, Riding the River will be looking to run his record to 5 for 6 and become a stakes winner in the $150,000 Ontario Derby, an open 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds.
“I think he’ll be competitive in there,” said Dave Cotey, who conditions Riding the River and owns the gelding in partnership with Derek Ball and Hugh Galbraith. “If he gets beat, it shouldn’t be by much.”
POMONA, Calif. – It looks like easy money Thursday at Fairplex Park, where favorites are winning Thoroughbred races with unusual regularity.
The first two weeks at the Los Angeles County Fair, favorites won 44 of 93 Thoroughbred races, a 47 percent win rate that far exceeds the historical norm that generally hovers between 33 percent and 34 percent.
So is making money at the racetrack really as easy as betting the favorite? Of course not, but it’s always fun to cash a ticket on a winning horse, even if the payoff is minimal.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – After winning back-to-back route races over the winter at Fair Grounds, Fast Alex was headed into the Louisiana Derby in late March, but the colt took a major detour, both in terms of time and distance. Instead of the Louisiana Derby, Fast Alex’s first start since an entry-level allowance win March 1 in New Orleans comes Thursday at Arlington Park, where he is entered in a one-mile grass race open to second-level allowance horses or $40,000 claimers.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Two-year-olds dominate Thursday’s card at Belmont Park, which features five juvenile races, including the $60,000 Friendly Beauty overnight stakes.
The six-furlong Friendly Beauty drew nine New York-bred fillies, headed by Yawkey Way, who won her first two starts at Saratoga for Chad Brown, including the Ann Clare overnight stakes.
Yawkey Way had some anxious moments when keyed up and in tight down the backstretch of the Ann Clare, but recovered nicely to draw away late at 3-5.
In just one start, Golden Moka has placed an ownership group led by retired jockey Rene Douglas in an enviable position. The horse more than paid for himself when he handily knocked off a $500,000 stakes in July. And by virtue of that win, he could go favored Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.
Specialists at Northwestern University near Chicago have decided that the rider Michael Martinez is not a candidate for a clinical trial using embryonic stem cells to treat spinal-cord injuries, according to the track physician at Golden Gate Fields, where Martinez was severely injured in a fall on Sept. 12.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Miss Keller’s success in last Sunday’s Grade 2 Canadian Stakes was a high note on an otherwise disappointing weekend for trainer Roger Attfield.
It all began early Saturday morning when Attfield received a call from his assistant, Suzanne Lorimer, informing him that No Explaining, who had been shipped to Belmont for the Grade 1 Garden City, was not in the best of health.
“She had a head cold, and of course we had to scratch her,” said Attfield. “That was the start of a bad day.”
Kentucky Downs ended its four-day meet Monday with a gross all-sources handle of $4,473,195, which represents a 14 percent increase over last year at the turf-only track in Franklin, Ky. However, only 24 races were run last year over three days, versus 30 races over four days in 2010, which means the average all-sources per-race handle was down about 5 percent.
Ontrack handle on the 30 races this year was $304,909. There are no attendance figures because admission is free.
Golden Gate Fields does not have another stakes race on its schedule until Oct. 23, but it has put together a pair of stakes-caliber fields for fans Thursday and Friday.
“We’re really trying to help our trainers who have good horses,” said Golden Gate Fields general manager Robert Hartman. “Our stakes schedule was a little light this meet, but we’re putting emphasis on making better races go.”
Thursday’s classified allowance race, which carries a purse of $33,000, is for fillies and mares on the turf and will serve as a prep for the Oct. 30 Cal Cup races at Hollywood Park.