ELMONT, N.Y. - With significant rain in the forecast through the weekend, the New York Racing Association decided not to card Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Athenia Stakes and instead will reschedule it for Wednesday. Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Knickerbocker Stakes also may be rescheduled for Wednesday, though a final decision on that was not made as of Thursday.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer John Snow credits the good life at the farm for the success of Blue Sky Holiday, who will be one of the favorites in the Grade 3, $125,000 Ballerina at Hastings on Saturday.
Snow conditions a lot of his horses on the half-mile training track at a farm he owns in Aldergrove, a suburb of Vancouver. The more relaxed situation doesn't suit every horse, but, according to Snow, Blue Sky Holiday thrives there.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Just as Well recorded the biggest win of his career when he was promoted to the top spot upon the disqualification of Marsh Side in the here Sept. 20.
And while the official outcome will remain in doubt and the purse in limbo until an appeal by Marsh Side's connections is heard, Just as Well be looking to prove his point when he returns in Saturday's Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International.
WHO'S HOT
The beat goes on. Bob Baffert continued his strong run, even if unable to bring down any of the top prizes from this past weekend. Baffert, after a 5-for-11 first week, slowed down a bit (well, he had to), going 4 for 19 last week, though that still had him atop the standings, with 9 wins from 30 starts, three ahead of Mike Mitchell and John Sadler.
WHO'S HOT
Luis Saez
The promising apprentice rider is gone but will not be soon forgotten. Not after posting a five-bagger on last Saturday's card, which followed a hat trick one day earlier. Saez is headed north after winning an incredible 53 races from just 229 mounts in less than two months of work on the local front.
Bill White
WHO'S HOT
Edgar Prado
New York's leading rider in 2005 and an Eclipse Award winner the following year, Edgar Prado surpassed the 6,000-win mark in 2008, but things had been rather quiet for him lately.
That all changed last Saturday, when Prado won five races for five trainers, including a pair of Grade 1 stakes: the Jamaica on Take the Points ($7.40) and the Champagne on Homeboykris ($13.20).
Ramon Dominguez's dominance in New York this year has overshadowed the accomplishments of virtually every rider in the New York Racing Association colony.
Last weekend, although he did it out of town, Rajiv Maragh did his best to step out of Dominguez's shadow.
In a three-day stint at Keeneland, Maragh won five races from 15 mounts, including two Grade 1 stakes. He finished first in Sunday's Grade 1 Spinster Stakes but was disqualified when his mount Proviso came in on Mushka.
It was 25 years ago this week, on Thursday, Oct. 11, 1984, that Queen Elizabeth II made her first visit to an American racetrack. The race named for her was inaugurated as something of an afterthought, as a tribute to Her Majesty for honoring Keeneland with her presence.
WHO'S HOT
Jockeys
Rajiv Maragh had won with 5 of his 15 mounts. Exacta players have been doing well with his horse, since he also finished second five times, giving him 67 percent success in the exacta. One would expect that a jockey whose mounts have been that consistent is probably succeeding with several low-odds favorites, but none of Maragh's mounts was favored. He owns a $7.07 return on investment from those five winners.
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.
