Del Mar has increased overnight purses for its upcoming autumn meeting by approximately 20 percent from 2020, bringing prize money for that season to record levels and on par with the track’s summer season.
The purse increase was announced by track officials at the end of the summer meeting earlier this month and detailed in a statement released Tuesday.
The 15-day autumn meeting runs from Nov. 3-28 and includes the Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 5-6.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Declan Cannon has begun physical therapy after undergoing surgery in Indianapolis for three fractured vertebrae suffered in a Sept. 13 spill at Indiana Grand.
Cannon’s agent, Tim Hanisch, said doctors are hopeful the 34-year-old jockey will be fully recovered in six months or so.
“He’s back home [in Louisville], doing well for the circumstances,” Hanisch said. “He’s able to walk and climb stairs, so the doctors are pretty happy with that.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fields for the three $275,000 stakes that anchor an 11-race Saturday card at Churchill were drawn Wednesday, with Carribean Caper being foremost among the marquee names when looking to stay unbeaten in the seven-furlong Dogwood Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Essential Quality and Knicks Go, the top two current favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, are on a steady work pattern at Churchill Downs for trainer Brad Cox but are taking divergent paths to the $6 million race on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Those with a horse nominated to the Overskate Stakes on Oct. 9 at Woodbine will be breathing a sigh of relief when they find out that Woodbine Mile winner Town Cruise won’t be contesting that Ontario-sired event.
Owner-trainer Brandon Greer said Tuesday that Town Cruise emerged from his gate-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in good shape but is headed to the farm. The race was a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In qualifier, but Town Cruise isn’t BC-nominated and the BC Mile at Del Mar was never on his radar anyway.
Medina Spirit, the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing, will not run in that race, trainer Bob Baffert told the track’s notes team Tuesday morning.
Baffert said he didn’t like the way the race could potentially set up for his front-running winner of the Kentucky Derby after Medina Spirit drew post 9, just outside other speed horses Hot Rod Charlie (post 7) and Midnight Bourbon (post 8).
Baffert also said he would scratch Private Mission, a 9-2 shot, from the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Astronaut, the lightly raced Shirreffs trainee who earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf by winning the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 21 at Del Mar, will train into the Breeders’ Cup rather than shorten to a mile and one-quarter in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship on Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.
Four of the top seven finishers from the Kentucky Derby were part of a 10-horse field entered Monday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing. However, Medina Spirit will be withdrawn from the race, trainer Bob Baffert told the Parx notes team.
The scratch leaves Hot Rod Charlie as a solid favorite in a field of nine.
“I want to do what is best for the horse,” Baffert said Tuesday morning after arriving back in California from the Keeneland September sale. “I don’t like the way he drew.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Edgeway will be up against it facing one of the most heavily favored runners of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup, but trainer John Sadler will take his best shot by sending Edgeway into the Filly and Mare Sprint as a fresh filly.
Sadler acknowledged that, at least on paper, “nobody can beat Gamine. But who’s in the second tier? – Frank’s Rockette, Edgeway, maybe Kimari. I’m going to train [Edgeway] into the Breeders’ Cup. She does well with spacing.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – A late-season showdown between California’s top handicap horses of winter, spring, and summer is taking shape as one of the most appealing stakes of the Santa Anita fall meet that begins on Oct. 1.
Idol, Express Train, and Tripoli are all on target for the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Oct. 2. The $300,000 race is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race leading to the BC Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
