With a little more than three weeks left in the 2010 River Downs summer meet, it is once again time to look at the signature races for 2-year-olds. The Bassinet and Cradle Stakes, the only two open races on the River Downs stake schedule, will be contested on closing weekend. The $50,000 Bassinet and $100,000 Cradle will be run on Sept, 4 and 6, respectively.
The purse for each race has been cut in half this year.
Mac Robertson and Bernell Rhone are both vying for the Canterbury training title with 32 wins as of Wednesday.
Robertson, who has won the training title every year since 2004, came with a reduced stable after sending 30 horses to Delaware Park this year.
“I’m surprised I’ve won as many as I have,” he said. “I came with 28 Minnesota-breds and about 15 2-year-olds out of 50 head. I’ve got one leg out the door.”
Rhone and Robertson both say they are glad to see Canterbury Park survive in the midst of a recession and with a casino just down the road.
Star Guitar will square off against eight foes Saturday night as he attempts to defend his title in the $100,000 Evangeline Mile. The reigning Louisiana-bred horse of the year, who is trained by Al Stall Jr., Star Guitar will be venturing outside the statebred ranks for the first time since a fourth place performance in the Grade 3 Lone Star Mile in late April. A 5-year-old son of Quiet American, he will also be sporting a new pilot as Jesse Campbell takes over for the recently retired Curt Bourque.
Kelly Breen was perplexed by Nacho Friend’s effort Saturday in the West Virginia Derby.
Getting third in a $750,000 race isn’t all bad. But then, Breen expected much more following Nacho Friend’s second-place finish, and career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 101, behind Trappe Shot in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Nacho Friend was never a factor at Mountaineer Park, winding up 8 1/2 lengths behind 1-2 finishers Concord Point and Exhi.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Grand Couturier’s participation in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational has become an annual rite of summer.
Saturday, when the Sword Dancer is run for the 36th time, Grand Couturier will be making his fifth consecutive appearance in the race, run at 1 1/2 miles on turf. After finishing third in the race as a 3-year-old in 2006, his North American debut, Grand Couturier won the Sword Dancer in 2007 and 2008 and finished fifth as the favorite last year.
Stolis Winner could become Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading earner Friday night at Sam Houston Race Park. He is set to start in the $50,000 Classic, and to break the record of $2,126,309 held by Refrigerator, he will have to win the 440-yard race. It drew 10 older horses, including Blue Louisiana Jolla, who has won his last five starts.
“It’s a very deep, very quality field,” said Heath Taylor, who trains Stolis Winner for Jerry Windham. “He’ll have to have his ‘A’ game.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A win over the course, a versatile running style, and a cutback in distance could all conspire to give Interactif a slight edge in Friday’s contentious Grade 2, $150,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga.
Six were entered to run in the Hall of Fame, provided the race remains at 1 1/8 miles over the inner turf course. Colizeo – an entrymate of Interactif – would run if forecasted rains force the race to the dirt.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission, which operates several casinos and the province’s racetrack slot machine programs, has taken the first steps toward implementing Internet gambling in the province.
The commission said in a press release that it would begin a “thorough consultation and implementation process over the next 18 months,” and that Internet gambling could be offered by 2012.
Gamblers could buy lottery tickets online and play casino games and poker.