Trainer Bob Schultz has long felt that Dixieland Bull would get two turns, but he knows the proof is in the doing. So on Saturday, he will be as anxious as her backers to see what Dixieland Bull does when she stretches out to 7 1/2 furlongs on turf for an allowance for 2-year-old fillies at Louisiana Downs.
The race goes as the third, and Schultz said it could serve as Dixieland Bull’s stepping-stone to the $50,000 Donnie Wilhite Memorial at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 28.
Slides Choice will be trying turf for the first time when she faces a full field of 12 in the $50,000 Vivacious at River Downs on Saturday.
The 2009 Ohio horse of the year and 3-year-old champion filly, Slides Choice is the 121-pound highweight in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for Ohio-bred fillies and mares, giving one to 17 pounds to her rivals.
Sweet Dixie Van has made short work of her rivals this meet at Arapahoe Park by winning both of her career starts by a combined margin of 12 1/2 lengths. But on Saturday, the stakes will be higher in the $20,000 Silver Cup Futurity.
“She’s got to run against the boys this time,” said Tyrone Gleason, who trains Sweet Dixie Van. The Silver Cup, a 5 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-olds bred in Colorado, drew a field of 10, and Sweet Dixie Van is the lone filly in the field. But she looks like she can hold her own on paper and physically.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Desert Party, the multiple graded-stakes-winning colt owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Godolphin Stable, has been retired from racing after developing a soft tissue injury, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said Thursday.
“He can’t make it back this year,” bin Suroor said. “He will retire. He will go to Darley, Jonabell Farm. We look forward to seeing him do well in his stud career.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. –Here’s a scary thought: As good as Quality Road was winning the Metropolitan Handicap – and he was brilliant – trainer Todd Pletcher believes the 4-year-old colt could be even better in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.
If Pletcher’s assessment proves correct then his five opponents are in for a long day and those who attend the 11-race card on what is forecast to be a glorious summer afternoon in the Adirondack region – highs in the mid-70s and no rain – will be in for quite a show.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Exactly 51 years to the day since The Babe was a baby, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. celebrated his birthday by sending out four stars from his barn, including new arrival Rail Trip, for workouts Thursday morning at Saratoga.
Rail Trip’s work, his first since his shocking move to Dutrow following last month’s Hollywood Gold Cup, was the most keenly anticipated of the four, but the sprinter D’ Funnybone, older horse I Want Revenge, and 2-year-old Boys At Tosconova all had important drills for upcoming races.
DEL MAR, Calif. − She has won with turf sprinters and horses running 1 1/2 miles on the main track, and she has won at several distances in between. In fact, Carla Gaines is winning with nearly everything she starts this summer at Del Mar.
Through Wednesday, Gaines had five wins from her first eight starters at the meeting, including the Grade 3 Cougar II Handicap with Temple City on July 30. Temple City is considered a contender for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 28 or the $200,000 Del Mar Handicap on turf Aug. 29.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The only perception of a blemish on Zenyatta’s unbeaten record is the 2009 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, a race she won by a head.
The performance has been on trainer John Shirreffs’s mind for months, in advance of Zenyatta’s scheduled appearance in the same race on Saturday, where she will attempt to win her 18th race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − The complexion of the Grade 1, $250,000 Test Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga changed dramatically Thursday afternoon, when Franny Freud, the morning-line favorite, was removed from the race because of an injury.
John Terranova, the trainer of Franny Freud, said she had suffered a ligament injury to her left front ankle and would be retired.