LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland fall meet will get away to the usual action-packed start when two Grade 1 races are run Friday, the first of 17 days.
The $500,000 Darley Alcibiades, led by undefeated Mani Bhavan, and the $400,000 First Lady, which features Precious Kitten, will kick off what Keeneland calls the FallStars Weekend. Entries for the 10-race Friday opener were drawn Tuesday.
Graded stakes winners Sky Mom and Golden Doc A, whose best performances came on synthetic surfaces, will try to prove they can be equally effective on dirt when they face nine other 3-year-old fillies in Friday night's Grade 2, $400,000 Indiana Oaks at Hoosier Park.
Sky Mom, who has not raced since winning the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks on Aug. 2, drew post 3, one slot outside Golden Doc A, who has lost five straight since capturing the Grade 1 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita in early February.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A gray and rainy Tuesday morning greeted the European shippers who trained for the first time since arriving here at Woodbine early Sunday evening.
Doctor Dino, Lucarno, and Mourilyan all jogged on the main track as they continued their preparations for the Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International, the 1 1/2-mile race for 3-year-olds and upward that is the showpiece of Saturday's Woodbine program.
MIAMI - Last Saturday's card was billed as the Festival of the Sun Preview but instead may have produced more prospective candidates for the Breeders' Cup than either of the Florida Stallion series finales, which highlight Festival of the Sun Day here on Oct. 18.
Both Renda and Smooth Air earned tickets to the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita with their victories in the Brave Raj and Needles stakes, respectively. Renda is being pointed for the Juvenile Fillies Turf or Juvenile Fillies, while Smooth Air will go in the Classic or Dirt Mile.
Autobeacat, who has risen from $20,000 claimer to $100,000 stakes winner over the course of the Louisiana Downs meet, is targeting the Louisiana Champions Day program at Fair Grounds this winter, said his trainer, Eric Heitzmann.
"I do have the Classic in mind," said Heitzmann.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Breeders' Cup Win and You're In program was the catalyst for moving the Canadian International and E.P. Taylor to an earlier date this season.
On Saturday, the effectiveness of that move will become clear when Woodbine offers the Canadian International and the E.P. Taylor, as well as the Nearctic and Summer, on a high-powered card that will earn the winners of all four turf stakes berths in their corresponding Breeders' Cup events at Santa Anita on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25.
The undefeated Peppers Pride will attempt to set a record for consecutive wins by a North American-based Thoroughbred on Saturday at Zia Park, when she shoots for her 17th career win in the eighth race, a $35,000 optional claiming allowance. It will be run over six furlongs, and it is restricted to fillies and mares bred in New Mexico.
The Oak Tree meeting card at Santa Anita failed to reach its $1 million-guaranteed pick-six pool on Saturday, attracting $872,094 in wagers.
Oak Tree's executive vice-president, Sherwood Chillingworth, said the track had purchased an insurance policy to protect against a shortfall.
Chillingworth said the small pool was not a complete surprise, since the track had pick-six carryovers on Thursday and Friday of last week that "drained" bettors.
Chillingworth also noted that "the guaranteed pick six may have lost its glamour."
EDMONTON, Alberta - Had last Saturday's 12th Fall Classic Day been a hockey game, the three stars would have been trainer Cody Anderson, rider Real Simard, and broodmare Devil's Favour.
Anderson sent out full brothers Cool Ventura ($4.70), Cool Synsation ($2.90), and half-brother Cool Diablo ($8) to complete an improbable pure hat trick on the final three stakes races of the card, with Simard guiding each one home for owner-breeder Ab Brewster.
A significant expansion of the Monmouth Park meet this year took a significant toll on ontrack business, but average all-sources handle figures showed a slight uptick even in the face of an inscrutable economy and declines at other summer meets, according to figures released by Monmouth on Monday.
