SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – John Kimmel knows Friend or Foe has a lot to overcome when he makes his graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga.
But in Friend or Foe, Kimmel also knows he has a lot of horse.
Friend or Foe, undefeated in three starts, is one of several intriguing 3-year-olds set to contest the Jim Dandy, the local prep for the $1 million Travers Stakes here Aug. 28. The Jim Dandy is run at 1 1/8 miles.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The case of Fifty Proof has been the talk of the track this week.
Fifty Proof, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Ian Black, had won a restricted first-level allowance race in seemingly routine fashion here last Thursday, scoring by 4 3/4 lengths under Justin Stein as the 3-4 choice.
But, shortly after the stewards had made the result official, they were informed that Fifty Proof’s starting stall appeared to have opened a fraction before the others in the six-horse field.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Richard’s Kid was a busy horse at the 2009 Del Mar meeting. He made three starts in seven weeks, and won the season’s biggest race – the $1 million Pacific Classic.
The Pacific Classic is the goal again this year, on Aug. 28, but getting there will not be as strenuous. Trainer Bob Baffert has one start planned for Richard’s Kid in the buildup, Friday’s $125,000 Cougar II Handicap over 1 1/2 miles on the Polytrack synthetic surface or Saturday’s $200,000 San Diego Handicap.
Higher purses, fueled by 2,000 slot machines and added bonus money from the Indiana Breeders Development Fund for Indiana-bred horses, has made Hoosier Park one of the more visible venues in the Midwest. The track begins its 16th season Friday evening with a 63-program meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.
New York trainer Linda Rice returns to her roots Friday night when she will send out Canadian Ballet in the $100,000 Jennie Wade Handicap at Penn National Race Course.
The Jennie Wade, scheduled for five furlongs on the turf, goes as race 3 on a nine-race card that includes a pair of $75,000 supporting stakes, the Red Carpet and the Femme Fatale. Friday’s program, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, is a prelude to a three-stakes package on Saturday night, highlighted by the 38th running of the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Purrfect Bluff has been perfectly consistent since trainer Patricia Farro claimed her for $32,000 in late May.
A 4-year-old, Purrfect Bluff has run second in all three races since the barn change. The consistency also runs through her Beyer Speed Figures, tightly banded from 77 to 75 for the three starts.
Purrfect Bluff takes her fourth straight crack at a first-level allowance in the $80,000 feature on the 12-race Friday card at Monmouth Park that kicks off Haskell weekend.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There is a certain cachet that one usually associates with a Kentucky Derby winner. For Super Saver, that seemingly lasted about two weeks.
Following his 2 1/2-length victory in the Derby, Super Saver wilted in the final three furlongs of the Preakness, finishing eighth, 11 3/4 lengths behind Lookin At Lucky, who had finished sixth in the Derby. Then, Super Saver went into hiding, skipping the Belmont Stakes to prepare for the second half of the year.
Friday means happy hour at Arlington Park, where fans start their summer weekends by kicking back with a late post at the Arlington Heights, Ill., track.
Countless hours have been invested in getting a 4-year-old named Kopitar back to the races, so it remains to be seen whether it will be a happy one at Arlington this particular Friday for trainer Rusty Arnold and his staff. The culmination of those tireless efforts will come in the featured eighth race, a $44,200 second-level allowance on turf that marks the first race in more than a year and a half for Kopitar.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Friday’s seventh race at Woodbine, a competitive $32,000 claimer, contains several classy droppers who are a tricky read, including Monty’s Best, who sticks out like a sore thumb in the seven-furlong sprint.
Monty’s Best showed promise two years ago during the fall of his 2-year-old campaign, when he wound up second in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs. After getting the following winter off, he came out loaded for bear in the spring and early summer of 2009, winning a first- and second-level allowance in consecutive starts.
Love Ridge has spent most of her career running for a claiming tag, but her recent Beyer Speed Figures and early speed hint she may be capable of becoming a stakes winner when she drops from racing against older horses in open company to fellow 3-year-old Pennsylvania-bred fillies in Friday’s $75,000 Roanoke Stakes at Philadelphia Park.
The six-furlong Roanoke drew a field of six and goes as race 8 on a nine-race twilight card that begins at 4 p.m. Eastern.