LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Buff Bradley wanted to shorten up Brass Hat from the marathon races the venerable gelding has been running in for much of the last two years. Bradley ultimately chose to ship Brass Hat to Prairie Meadows in Iowa for the $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race set for next Saturday.
One alternative option for Bradley was to wait for a July 3 allowance at Churchill Downs, a 1 1/16-mile race expected to mark the seasonal debut of 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.
INGLEWOOD, Calif.- The mighty Zenyatta is not the only champion in trainer John Shirreffs's barn this summer.
Scenic Blast, the reigning Australian Horse of the Year, may make his U.S. debut in the $75,000 Robert Kerlan Memorial Handicap at Hollywood Park next Sunday. The Kerlan, run over six furlongs on turf, would be a considerable step down in prize money for Scenic Blast, who has won 8 of 21 starts and $1,396,843.
Honorable Lady, runner-up to Ruby s Big Band in three stakes encounters at Assiniboia Downs last year, turned the tables in Friday night s $30,000 Chantilly Stakes.
Recording her second win in as many starts this year under Janine Stianson, Honorable Lady stalked the pace of the odds-on Island of Zen and then held off Ruby s Big Band by a half-length in a long drive.
The winner returned $17.90.
Gorgeous Goomah was third and Island of Zen fourth in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies for the six-furlong Chantilly.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Thanks in large part to cooperation from Mother Nature, business has been brisk at Belmont Park through the first half of the spring/summer meet.
Through last Sunday's 33rd card of the meet, total handle on Belmont races was $379,598,071, down 4 percent from last year's total of $395,24,768 on June 13, which was the 34th day of the meet. The daily average handle is $11,502,972, down 1.1 percent from last year's daily average of $11,627,199.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Management at Hastings is trying to make the best of a bad situation by starting the races at 10 a.m. Pacific this Sunday. The reason for the early post time is that the B.C. Lions, the local Canadian Football League team, is playing an exhibition game at a temporary facility located on the same site as Hastings.
Streak of Sixes, a stakes winner who suffered the first defeat of her four-race career last out, will try to get back in the win column in the $254,353 Mountain Top Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.
The 350-yard race is for 2-year-olds Quarter Horses bred in New Mexico.
Streak of Sixes won the first three races of her career, capped by the Grade 1 New Mexico Spring Futurity for statebreds at Sunland Park in April. She returned to action June 4, and finished third by a half-length in her trial for the Mountain Top.
More to the Story, who has spent most of her career racing in New York, will meet a couple of Arapahoe Park specialists when she makes her first start in Colorado in the $30,000 Molly Brown.
The field for the six-furlong race for fillies and mares includes Vannacide, who is 12 for 30 at Arapahoe, and Illusive Crystals, who is 5 for 6 in Colorado.
Reach One More should again rule a heavy favorite when he faces a field of six older horses in the $15,000 President's Cup Stakes at Lincoln Race Course.
Reach One More is a perfect 4 for 4 over this track and easily dispatched many of the same opponents in his last start here, the Big Red Mile on May 31. He once again will be joined by a pair of Chuck Turco-trained stablemates, From the Ashes and Pats High Life. The trio will race as separate wagering interests.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Officials with the Oak Tree Racing Association hope to finalize a home for their fall meeting by the end of his month and may have a resolution as early as Tuesday when the California Horse Racing Board convenes a highly anticipated meeting at Hollywood Park.
Jasper's Valentine will try to defend her title in the $50,000 Wild Rose Handicap at Northlands Park on Sunday. The six-furlong sprint drew a small but competitive field of five fillies and mares.
Jasper's Valentine, trained by Jim Meyaard, should be full of confidence following her 10-length front-running win over Jules J in a $40,000 optional race June 2. Jasper's Valentine has led from start to finish in all five of her wins, but could be vulnerable with plenty of other speed in the field.