HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Joe Orseno’s goal all season was to get Imprimis back to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint after he lost all chance a year ago in the race due to a very unlucky trip at Keeneland. But those plans have been shelved, with Imprimis back in Ocala where he was scheduled to undergo another throat surgery Monday.
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DRF Past Performances
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Action on the South Florida circuit, which traditionally has shifted to Gulfstream Park West during the months of October and November, will remain at Gulfstream Park for the next eight weeks with the fall meet to open Thursday and run through Nov. 21. Gulfstream Park West closed permanently at the end of the 2020 season.
Thursday’s opening-day program is expected to feature the first races to be run over the new Tapeta course, with four of the eight events on the card scheduled to be run over the all-weather surface.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown had Pocket Square pegged as a middle-distance runner when the filly first came to his barn earlier this year.
Based on the way she finished her 2 1/2-length-victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Athenia Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Belmont Park, Brown may be changing his mind.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher could have two top contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 6 at Del Mar after weekend stakes victories by Life Is Good and Mind Control.
Life Is Good did what was expected of him in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Kelso Handicap when he scored a 5 1/2-length front-running victory as the 1-20 favorite.
Mind Control won for the first time around two turns when he battled back after being passed by Silver State to capture the Parx Dirt Mile by a head.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – King Fury ran such a huge race in winning the inaugural Bourbon Trail by 13 lengths on Saturday at Churchill that trainer Ken McPeek couldn’t help but think back about how the colt had to be scratched from the May 1 Kentucky Derby.
“It really was unfortunate timing,” McPeek said Sunday from Ireland in regard to the minor illness that forced King Fury to miss the Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Michael McCarthy maybe could’ve run Independence Hall and Rushie back home in California, but nah. They’ll both run Saturday at Churchill Downs.
“We’re set up pretty good there in Kentucky, and Rushie has done some of his best work over that track,” McCarthy said early this week from his Santa Anita base. “We figured, why not?”
The undefeated 2-year-old colt Joker Boy will have his graded stakes debut in Friday’s Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
The decision was finalized after Joker Boy worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Santa Anita on Saturday. Trainer Brian Koriner said the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes was selected for Joker Boy instead of waiting for the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile for statebreds on Nov. 5 at Del Mar.
Led by the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes, Los Alamitos has scheduled five stakes for a two-week meeting from Dec. 3-12.
The $300,000 Starlet Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 4 is the first of four stakes for 2-year-olds in the brief stand, which will include the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, a $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 11.
There are two $100,000 races at a mile for statebred 2-year-olds – the Soviet Problem Stakes for fillies on Dec. 11 and the King Glorious Stakes on Dec. 12.
Trainer Mark Glatt is eager to try Beer Can Man in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar after the colt’s second-place finish in the Grade 3 Turf Monster Stakes on Saturday at Parx Racing.
That is, if Beer Can Man can earn a berth in what is likely to be a crowded field.
The BC Turf Sprint is run at five furlongs. Beer Can Man won an allowance race at five furlongs on turf on Aug. 13 at Del Mar in his first start since February and was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by the longshot Hollywood Talent in the $300,000 Turf Monster Stakes, also at five furlongs.
Smooth Like Strait, already assured of a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 6, will have a final prep race in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita next Saturday.
Trainer Michael McCarthy watched Smooth Like Strait work five furlongs in 59 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday in a manner that left him confident the 4-year-old can give a peak effort over the weekend and be ready for the BC Mile.
“We’re going to give it a long, hard look,” McCarthy said.