SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In Saturday's Sword Dancer Invitational, Grand Couturier will try to accomplish what Commentator could not in last week's Whitney - win the same Grade 1 race at Saratoga for a third time. But unlike Commentator, who would have had to share his accomplishment with two other horses, Grand Couturier seeks an unprecedented three-peat in the $500,000 turf race.
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DRF Past Performances
Trainer Brandon Bridges spent many of his formative racing years at Louisiana Downs, where he worked as an exercise rider as a teenager and later became an assistant trainer. Saturday, he could reach a new milestone at the track. Bridges is well positioned to win the first stakes race of his career with Red Lead, who is the probable favorite for the $100,000 Prelude.
MIAMI - Michele Blanco, the hard-working director of communications at Calder, has dubbed the Tortora family a "Florida Stallion Stakes dynasty," and rightly so.
When Sweetlalabye rallied to a three-quarter-length victory in Saturday's Desert Vixen Stakes, it marked the 10th time trainer Manny Tortora has posed in the winner's circle following a Stallion Stakes race. Sweetlalabye is an all-family affair as she's owned and bred by Tortora's wife, Jacqueline, along with his daughter and son-in-law, Toni and Richard Ancona.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Earl Barnett is hoping his Ontario-sired stars will be able to shine on two fronts Sunday.
At Woodbine, You Will Love Me is slated to go postward in the $125,000 Victoriana, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares that she won last year.
At Fort Erie, Anne's Purse is scheduled to be on hand for the $125,000 Rainbow Connection, a five-furlong turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A decision on where leading Horse of the Year contender Rachel Alexandra will make her next start won't be announced for at least another week. On Tuesday, however, the superstar filly gave an early indication that she will be ready to run whenever and wherever owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen wish.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - An English racing journalist last Saturday morning pointed out that the names of Gio Ponti's beaten opponents this year would not strike fear in the heart of a European trainer with a Grade 1 stakes horse. That's probably true, and the second- and third-place finishers from the 2009 Arlington Million, Just as Well and Stotsfold, are not going to be high on the list of top-rated horses in the world. But the point is that Gio Ponti keeps thumping whoever is thrown at him, running different kinds of races to suit different demands and winning all the while.
DEL MAR, Calif. - With stakes wins by Zensational in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby on Saturday and Lookin at Lucky in the Grade 2 Best Pal on Sunday, last week ended and this week began on upbeat notes for trainer Bob Baffert. And it only figures to get better.
On Friday, Baffert will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He left Del Mar on Monday morning for an extended visit to Saratoga, including the yearling sales, the Hall of Fame ceremonies, and running some of the horses he has stabled at the old Spa with John and Tonja Terranova.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ghost Fleet entered Sunday's $151,600 Vandal at Woodbine as a promising winner of his only start.
But, after watching Ghost Fleet wreak havoc on his Vandal opponents with an overpowering 4 3/4-length victory, it would appear that the sky could be the limit for the homebred colt owned by Mel Lawson and trained by Sid Attard.
"I was right," said a jubilant Attard, who in uncharacteristic fashion had spoken extremely highly of Ghost Fleet heading into the six-furlong Vandal, in which his 1:09.64 clocking yielded a Beyer Speed Figure of 82.