LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Churchill Downs announced plans Wednesday for a Kentucky Derby prep race at Kempton Park in Great Britain in which the winner would secure automatic entry into the field for the 2009 Kentucky Derby on May 2.
The $150,000 Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes (KDCS) will be contested going 1 1/8 miles over the Polytrack at Kempton Park on Wednesday, March 18, and the race is structured similarly to the Win and You're In racing series that leads up to the Breeders' Cup.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Rahy's Attorney did win to get in, but he's not going to the Breeders' Cup.
Although he earned a guaranteed berth in the Breeders' Cup Mile with his victory in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 7, Rahy's Attorney will not be making the trip to Santa Anita.
"It would just cost too much," said trainer Ian Black, citing the $180,000 supplementary fee required to make Rahy Attorney's Breeders' Cup-eligible and the associated costs of the trip for horse, help, and entourage.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Apprentice rider Brandon Meier has made the leap from Chicago into the greater racing world sooner rather than later, shifting his tack to California, where he will begin accepting mounts next Wednesday, opening day of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The field for the Grade 3, $250,000 British Columbia Derby on Sunday is shaping up, and the one thing that is crystal clear is that there will be a very fast pace.
The speedsters Wink at the Girls and Fear No Evil appear to have just one way of going. According to trainer Frank Lucarelli, any horse that wants the lead is going to have to deal with Fear No Evil
"He is going to the front," Lucarelli said. "We have tried to rate him in the past, but it just didn't work out."
A month ago, trainer Larry Jones was certain he wouldn't be taking 3-year-old filly Proud Spell to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup. Jones hasn't changed his mind, but he's now at least mulling over the idea.
In what could either be her final start of the season or a stepping-stone to the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic on Oct. 24, Proud Spell looms an overwhelming favorite over six other 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes at Philadelphia Park.
At the beginning of the year, there was speculation that jockey Patrick Valenzuela might be out of racing for good. His conditional license in California had been revoked in late December following a drunken driving charge, and he was not riding. He launched a comeback at Louisiana Downs in June and has steadily gained momentum. On Thursday, the California Horse Racing Board is scheduled to consider his request for reinstatement during an executive session, just as Valenzuela opens the race week three wins shy of his 4,000th career victory.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Al Stall's first stakes trip to Arlington Park this summer turned, quite frankly, into a bummer. Lattice looked like the horse to beat in the Stars and Stripes Handicap on July 4, but finished last of nine in the race, and had surgery to repair an injured ankle not long after.
MIAMI - If prepping for the Breeders' Cup Classic with a race on the turf is good enough for Big Brown, then why shouldn't it be good enough for Smooth Air?
Obviously that's what Bennie Stutts Jr. is thinking. The veteran trainer is plotting a course to the BC Classic for Smooth Air that will begin with the $100,000 Needles Stakes here on Sept. 27. Smooth Air got his first taste of running on the grass on Monday morning, working seven furlongs over a firm course in 1:29.88.
The pick six at Fairplex Park on Monday returned $7,922 after a carryover of $466,800 from the weekend led to $1,263,138 of fresh money being added to the pool.
The winners of Monday's pick six races - the fifth through 10th - were Ribomoon ($13.40), Private Posse ($3.60), Gold Datnoid ($5.20), Stormin Story ($7), Lauren C ($9.40), and Norco Pal ($4.80).
Stormin Story finished second to Harmony Creator, but was promoted to first when Harmony Creator was ruled to have caused interference through the stretch.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jockey Carl Defreitas had toiled here in relative anonymity since his arrival in 1998, winning just eight races and seeing his workload grow increasingly lighter in the last two years.
But Defreitas, 42, has found himself in the spotlight this summer due to the exploits of Baywoods, a 5-year-old mare that he piloted to her meet-leading fifth consecutive victory here last Saturday.
"This is my best year," said Defreitas, who is winning at a 50 percent clip while going 5 for 6 aboard Baywoods and 0 for 4 with his other mounts.
