Based on Beyer Speed Figures, very little separates the top five 2-year-old fillies in Saturday's $50,000 Finger Lakes Juvenile Fillies Stakes.
Gator Prowl - the track's morning-line favorite at 8-5 - second choice Winning Image at 2-1, Rules R Rules, J Z's Revenge, and Too Tough to Smile all show top Beyers in the narrow range between 67 and 69.
A forecast that calls for a mixture of rain and wet snow in western New York could benefit two fillies with good off-track pedigrees.
Full siblings Mount Wilton and East Coaster won consecutive races at Suffolk Downs on Wednesday. Both horses are by Graeme Hall out of the Our Emblem mare Eastlynne and were bred in Florida by Eugene Melnyk.
In the sixth race, Mount Wilton won a $10,000 claiming race by 2 3/4 lengths. Ridden by Carlos Quinones and trained by John Rigattieri, the 5-year-old gelding paid $9.80.
The Houston-based Gallery Furniture operation of prominent owner Jim Mattress Mack McIngvale will sponsor a new stakes during the Texas Champions Day program at Sam Houston Race Park on Dec. 5, the track announced late Wednesday. In addition, McIngvale and Sam Houston announced they are continuing their efforts to lure Rachel Alexandra and/or Zenyatta to town for a major stakes that could be run in early 2010.
MIAMI - While Jackson Bend's quest to sweep the open division of the Florida Stallion Stakes with a victory in the $400,000 In Reality Stakes may be the most compelling story on Saturday's Festival of the Sun program, the race that figures to draw the most national attention will be one that offers only one-quarter the purse but a free ticket into the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile - the Grade 3, $100,000 Spend a Buck Handicap.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The prospective field for the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on Saturday at Keeneland incurred a handful of 11th-hour defections when the connections of the California standout Well Monied were among several to decline invitations to the Grade 1 turf race Wednesday.
"Our filly got a little lung infection, and we've had to stop on her," said trainer Howard Zucker. "We're disappointed, because we were all excited about coming there. We've had to cancel about 100 reservations."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Midships, the dominant turf marathoner in California during the spring and summer, has been turned out at Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky, and will miss the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 7, farm manager Garrett O'Rourke said on Wednesday.
"He's had a bump in the road," O'Rourke said. "We decided to bring him back to the farm. At the moment, the plan is to put him back into training in December."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Girolamo's victory in Sunday's earned him a trip to Southern California for the Breeders' Cup. In which race he runs will be determined at a later date.
Girolamo and fellow 3-year-old Regal Ransom will ship to Santa Anita on Monday to join an already large group of Godolphin Racing stablemates to begin preparing for a Breeders' Cup race, according to Godolphin assistant trainer Rick Mettee. It is expected that Girolamo and Regal Ransom will be pre-entered in both the $5 million Classic and $1 million Dirt Mile to be run Nov. 7 over the Pro-Ride surface.
The Pinnacle Race Course season ends on Monday and the jockeys' race has once again tightened up between Jeffrey Skerrett and Angel Stanley.
Skerrett took over the lead on July 28 and kept it until Oct. 10, when Stanley rode four winners to take the lead. Skerrett attained a tie with Stanley with a win on Monday, then won a pair of races on Tuesday and is currently one up in the standings.
Stolis Winner, the reigning world champion Quarter Horse, dominated the trials for the Grade 1, $202,200 Dash for Cash Derby last weekend at Lone Star Park. He set the fastest time for the Oct. 24 finale when he won his 440-yard trial on a track rated good in 21.22 seconds. The second-fastest qualifier, Mr Jess Perrier, covered the distance in 21.37.
