OCEANPORT, N.J. – The $100,000 Continental Mile, the supporting stakes to the Monmouth Oaks on Saturday, is usually a puzzler.
Last year, Two Notch Road sprang a 107-1 upset in the race for 2-year-olds on the turf.
This edition is another handicapping challenge. None of the 11 runners has captured a stakes. Five have never run on grass. Only two, Mesonic and Powhatan County, have scored wins at a mile or longer.
And one, The Flying Whizzer, will be debuting for a new trainer.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. –Even as the Saratoga meet reaches the halfway point here on Saturday, trainer Chad Brown has already had a summer to remember. With 11 wins from his first 26 starters, the native of nearby Mechanicville finds himself contending for leading trainer honors.
Vannacide has been a constant presence at Arapahoe Park, where she has won at least one race every year since 2003. And in her eight seasons of competition in Colorado, she has never slipped into the claiming ranks. In fact, Vannacide will be after her second stakes win of the meet Saturday in the $30,000 Spicy.
It’s a race Vannacide has won three times before, but whether this year’s renewal will be her final Arapahoe appearance remains to be seen. It’s a logical question to start asking as the meet ends next weekend and the mare is now 9.
MIAMI – It’s rare to see a promising New York-bred 2-year-old competing in feature races around these parts at this time of year but such will be the case when Prince of Danger starts as one of the favorites in Saturday’s $32,500 main event.
There are a surprising number of similarities in the careers of the 3-year-old Quarter Horses The Partys On Fire and Good Reason Sa.
They both won seven-figure futurities at Los Alamitos last fall – The Partys On Fire took the Golden State Million in November and Good Reason Sa won the Los Alamitos Two Million in December. They were both sidelined by knee injuries last winter. And they both will make their first starts of the year on Saturday in the same division of the Golden State Derby time trials at Los Alamitos.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario − Rahy's Attorney, coming off a lackluster effort in the Grade 2 Nijinsky here July 24, will be looking to get his campaign back on the right track when he puts the blinkers back on for Saturday's $100,000 With Approval.
A 1 1/8-mile turf race for Ontario-foaled 3-year-olds and up, the With Approval attracted a field of eight.
Ravi’s Song is typical of a Carl Bowman trainee, with her races generously spaced and her strike rate high. The 4-year-old filly will be favored Saturday when making the eighth start of her career in the showcase race of the Ellis Park meet, the Grade 3 Gardenia Stakes, and that’s something Bowman certainly doesn’t mind.
“She’s coming into this race the right way,” he said. “I’m looking for her to run a big race. We’re ready.”
OPELOUSAS, La. – Ask trainer Al Stall Jr. about the “big” horse in his barn and thoughts immediately turn to Blame, whose victory in last Saturday’s Whitney Stakes elevated him to the top of the national handicap division. But in Stall’s home state of Louisiana, his most popular runner might be Star Guitar.
As dominant locally as his stablemate is nationally, Star Guitar will attempt to defend his title in the $100,000 Evangeline Mile on Saturday night. He will concede from five to 12 pounds to his eight rivals as the 123-pound highweight.
AUBURN, Wash. – Ready or not, a diverse cast of 3-year-old fillies will try to negotiate nine furlongs for the first time Saturday in the $75,000 Washington Oaks at Emerald Downs.
With no clear leader in the class, Emerald’s traditional championship for sophomore fillies attracted 11 entries, including two prominent contenders from Hastings in Vancouver, British Columbia. None of the 11 has raced farther than 1 1/16 miles, and three of them have never competed beyond 6 1/2 furlongs. Imponderables abound, and the betting figures to spread out among several top contenders.