ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Precious Kitten has been listed as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in a field of nine entered in the $750,000 Beverly D., the Grade 1 race that usually bears itself out as a critical stop for the filly-mare turf contingent.
The Beverly D. and the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes will combine again Saturday with the Arlington Million to form the International Festival of Racing at Arlington Park.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The Beverly D. is a Chicago race, but it's not like Chicago horses are ever involved. The Grade 1 race always has been dominated by elite fillies and mares, mostly from California and New York, with local horsemen doing little other than spectating.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sugar Bay, a sharp winner over seven furlongs last time out, will be looking to spring an upset when she swings back in the $150,000 Duchess at the same distance here Saturday.
"I kind of think this is her trip, right now," said Mac Benson, who trains Sugar Bay for owner and breeder George Strawbridge Jr.
"She has a bit of speed. We were trying to use it going long, but she just didn't seem to be cooperating the way we wanted her to."
BOSSIER CITY, La. - With the arrival of August and the dog days of summer, thoughts around Louisiana Downs move forward toward the meeting's highlight, the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby in late September.
The first step to the Super Derby is the Prelude Stakes on Aug. 15. There will be $100,000 in purse money in the Prelude, and the winner will receive an all-fees-paid berth in the Super Derby.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Poor Azul Leon. Unbeaten in two starts and bound for Sunday's $150,000 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar, he is already one of the best 2-year-olds in California this summer.
And, he only needs to win six more consecutive races this year to keep pace with the best horse owned by his owner and breeder, Joseph LaCombe.
When a stable is best known for campaigning Favorite Trick, the 1997 Horse of the Year as a 2-year-old, standards are pretty high. Such success also provides a dose of realism.
DEL MAR, Calif. - After Mr Napper Tandy finished fourth in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 19, trainer Jack Carava kicked around starting the colt in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 24.
The idea was abandoned this week when an optional $100,000 claimer over a mile was offered on Friday's eight-race program.
"His last race was a good race, but it's time to win a race," Carava said.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Ten names were on the list of pre-entries taken last Friday for the 26th Arlington Million, but only eight came out of the box when final entries were taken early Wednesday afternoon in the Starting Gate Theater at Arlington Park. Two pre-entered horses, Cosmonaut and Out of Control, both are staying home in New York, but the other eight make an appealing lot, with English shipper and world traveler Archipenko installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite by Arlington oddsmaker Joe Kristufek.
The Maryland Jockey Club has canceled its only graded stakes races - the Grade 1 Frank J. De Francis Dash and the Grade 3 Safely Kept Stakes - during the 17-week Laurel Park meet that begins Sept. 3. The company also announced Wednesday that it will close Pimlico Race Course for training beginning at the end of August.
