LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Reached by telephone an hour before saddling first-time starter My Southern Star in the second race at Saratoga on Friday, trainer Eddie Kenneally had a right to be focused entirely on racing at the Spa, not at Ellis Park.
Yet he didn’t have any trouble recalling his record at Ellis, though he seemed reluctant to say it aloud, as if doing so might jinx his luck there.
“We’ve run eight horses,” he said. “Seven have won and one ran out of the money.”
AUBURN, Wash. – Not too long ago, Noosa Beach was regarded as a one-trick pony, a sprinter who couldn’t win an important race around two turns. Now, a couple of dominating route victories later, he’ll start as one of the favorites in the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile on Sunday at Emerald Downs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – This has been trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s year to dominate stakes for statebred females.
U R All That I Am won two such races at Hollywood Park in the spring, while You Lift Me Up won the Work the Crowd Stakes at Golden Gate Fields in March. There is a good chance one of them will win Sunday’s $100,000 Solana Beach Handicap over a mile on turf for California-bred females.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion believes Check the Label continues to improve. If that trend continues, Check the Label’s five opponents in Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga could be in serious trouble.
Check the Label seeks her fourth consecutive graded stakes victory in the Lake Placid, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf, against a field which has yet to win a stakes. Check the Label overcame trouble to win both the Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont and Grade 3 Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – When apprentice jockey Brian Cheyne took trainer Lou Capi’s Found the Treasure into the Fort Erie winner’s circle Tuesday evening, it capped an eight-win weekend for him from Aug. 15 to Aug. 17. With four wins Sunday, three Monday, and one the final race of the weekend, Cheyne, 21, gave notice that he will be a force for the rest of the meet.
Cheyne was 20 of 137 at the meet through Thursday but has won 13 of his last 56, a 23 percent win rate.
AUBURN, Wash. – There has been an unusual turn of events in the filly-and-mare division at Emerald Downs: As the distances get longer, Clair Annette’s odds get shorter. Having recorded stakes victories at a mile and 1 1/16 miles in her past two starts, she figures to be a short-priced favorite Sunday going nine furlongs in the $75,000 Emerald Distaff on the Longacres Mile undercard.
EDMONTON, Alberta – Notoriously will try and keep her hot streak at Northlands Park alive when she runs in the $50,000 Sonoma Handicap on Sunday. The 1 1/16-mile feature for 3-year-old fillies winds up the Thoroughbred portion of a 10-race card. Following the Sonoma, there will be three stakes for Quarter Horses totaling $88,500 in purses.
EDMONTON, Alberta – Trainer Robertino Diodoro is on track to win his first training title at Northlands Park. He currently sits on top of the standings with 39 wins, eight more than Jim Meyaard and Greg Tracy.
Diodoro, 36, finished second to Meyaard last year and was also second behind Red Smith in 2008. It is unlikely Meyaard will catch Diodoro this year due to the number of horses in Diodoro’s stable.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Biofuel, arguably the best 3-year-old filly at Woodbine, will face older rivals for the first time in Sunday’s 1 1/16-mile Belle Mahone.
The Belle Mahone, an overnight stakes for fillies and mares, has attracted a field of seven that also includes Tasty Temptation, one of the top older mares on the circuit.
Biofuel, a co-champion in Canada’s 2-year-old filly division last year, began her current campaign with victories here in the six-furlong Star Shoot and the 1 1/16-mile La Lorgnette.
Oaklawn Park has repositioned the Apple Blossom and reduced the purse of the Oaklawn Handicap from $500,000 to $350,000 in the biggest changes to its 2011 stakes schedule that is again led by the $1 million Arkansas Derby. In all, the track will put on 32 stakes worth $4.6 million during its 56-date meet that opens Jan. 14.
Purses are projected to average $300,000 a day.