VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It is tough to separate a solid field of 3-year-old fillies running in a $50,000 optional claimer at Hastings that will serve as Sunday’s feature. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew eight horses and goes as race 6.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bridgetown made a successful return from a 250-day layoff, rallying wide on the far turn under Julien Leparoux before overpowering pacesetting Red Rally in upper stretch en route to a one-length victory in Thursday’s $70,000 Latham Stakes at Saratoga.
Flamin’ Hot rallied wide under Alan Garcia to get second by 1 1/4 lengths over Red Rally. It was Flamin’ Hot’s first loss in five turf starts.
Skys Red Roxy, who pressed the lead and finished second in last month’s Regret Stakes, looks for her first stakes win in the $20,000 Ann Arbor Stakes at Pinnacle Race Course. The one-mile race is for 3-year-old Michigan-bred fillies, who will all carry 121 pounds.
Skys Red Roxy, with a morning line of 5-1, gets a new jockey in Federico Mata for the Ann Arbor. Prior to the Regret, she won her maiden in Indiana and then backed that up with a 66 Beyer Speed Figure, the best of any Ann Arbor entrant, in winning an allowance race locally.
No Garlic will attempt to keep his record unblemished as he goes after his second stakes win while facing eight maiden 2-year-old Ohio-bred rivals in the 19th running of the $50,000, six-furlong Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes at Thistledown.
No Garlic is undefeated in two starts. In his most recent outing on July 10, he led every step of the way en route to a 3 1/2-length win in the 5 1/2-furlong Hoover Stakes at River Downs. He won his maiden race at first asking at River Downs on June 28 going five furlongs.
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.