SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - I Lost My Choo could be one of the shortest-priced favorites of this entire meet when she faces five seemingly overmatched rivals in Thursday's $150,000 Statue of Liberty division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Saratoga.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Okay, so he's not exactly a throwback to 50 years ago, when a racehorse was liable to run two times in a week. But in this age of declining activity, Einstein looks like an iron horse.
Einstein shipped by van from Churchill Downs to Arlington Park on Monday and will start here Saturday in the Arlington Million, which will draw between eight and 10 horses when entries are taken Wednesday morning. Cosmonaut, one of the pre-entrants, is unlikely to ship for the race; Out of Control, another pre-entry, may or may not come from New York.
A fond farewell to the racing mule legend Black Ruby and the annual renewal of the 1 5/8-mile Humboldt County Marathon highlight the Humboldt County Fair meet, which begins Thursday and runs through Sunday, Aug. 17.
Black Ruby, the 16-year-old queen of the mules, is set to make her final appearance under racing silks during the fair. Black Ruby has won 70 races. Owners Sunny and Mary McPherson targeted Ferndale for her final start because of her popularity there.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Hometown hero Spaghetti Mouse became the all-time leading British Columbia-bred money-earner with a dramatic victory over Texas Wildcatter in the $107,894 British Columbia Cup Classic at Hastings on Monday. The Classic was the feature race on B.C. Cup Day, which included seven stakes races for British Columbia-bred or B.C.-owned horses.
DEL MAR, Calif. There will be a carryover of $140,095 seeding the pick six on Wednesday at Del Mar when the seaside track begins Week 4 of its meet, the result of no one sweeping the wager on Monday.
There is an eight-race card on Wednesday, so the pick six will begin with the third race. Post time will be approximately 3 p.m. Pacific.
The day's feature is the Grade 3, $150,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. There are 11 runners in that race, one of several races in the pick six sequence with large, wide-open fields.
The final two-week race meeting at Bay Meadows begins Wednesday, when the San Mateo County Fair meeting - better known as the Bay Meadows Fair - begins its 10-day run. The last day of racing at Bay Meadows, which opened in 1934, will be Aug. 17, confirmed F. Jack Liebau, president of the Bay Meadows Racing Association.
"I would say this is it," said Liebau, who has run Bay Meadows since 1993. "I don't have another Hail Mary left."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While the mystery of where and when Curlin will start next was scheduled to be cleared up by majority owner Jess Jackson on a national conference call Tuesday afternoon, there is little mystery about how the reigning Horse of the Year is training.
Matt's Broken Vow, benefiting from a heads-up ride by Assiniboia's leading jockey Alan Cuthbertson, outran fellow Woodbine invader Bonanza for a 5 1/4-length victory in Monday's $100,000 Manitoba Lotteries Derby.
Owned by Robert Mitchell and trained by Josie Carroll, Matt's Broken Vow pressed the slow pace of Mr Exspeedient in the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds before moving to the lead around the far turn and turning back the brief challenge of Bonanza.
"The pace was really slow; he usually lays farther back," said Cuthbertson, who won his first Manitoba Derby.
Seaside Retreat ($12.60) broke the 1 1/4-mile course record Monday at Woodbine, taking the $305,900 Nijinsky Stakes over favored Strike a Deal.
A shipper from the United States, Seaside Retreat assumed an early stalking position under Patrick Husbands in the Grade 2 event as Strike a Deal set slow fractions while being pressed along the inside by another American shipper, Independent George.