SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The top three finishers from Saturday's Alabama Stakes will likely head their separate ways before likely meeting up again in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27.
Lady Joanne, who survived a two-pronged challenge from Lear's Princess and Octave as well as a stewards' inquiry into the stretch run, will make her next start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 7 at Keeneland, trainer Carl Nafzger said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Polytrack, Polytrack, Polytrack. The day after the first Pacific Classic run over the new surface, it was all anyone could talk about at Del Mar. The synthetic era in Southern California obviously benefitted a horse like Student Council, who scored a 23-1 upset in the biggest race of the meet. But it likely will alter the program for Lava Man, who finished an exhausted sixth as the 6-5 favorite.
The attraction of Lava Man, the Pacific Classic, two other graded stakes, a guaranteed $1 million pick six pool that was seeded by a carryover from the previous day, and a fleece pullover giveaway yielded big business at Del Mar on Sunday. The track had its largest overall handle ever, and its third-biggest ontrack crowd for the Pacific Classic.
A total of $24,642,601 was bet on the 10-race card, eclipsing the previous single-day record of $24,004,733 set Aug. 21, 2005, which was Pacific Classic Day that year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As the trainer of Kentucky Derby and Jim Dandy winner Street Sense, Carl Nafzger has every reason to be supremely confident entering Saturday's $1 million Travers. On Monday, he singled out one reason why he is not.
Of the six or seven rivals Street Sense will face on Saturday, Nafzger is most worried about Sightseeing, the Shug McGaughey-trained colt who won the Peter Pan and finished third to Street Sense in the Jim Dandy.
DEL MAR, Calif. The past year has not been easy for jockey Richard Migliore, or for his wife, Carmela, and their four kids. Migliore decided to move west last fall, but with his kids still in school, moving the family from New York was not considered an option. So, Migliore has lived a bi-coastal life, flying to New York as often as possible between Sunday nights and Wednesday mornings when Santa Anita and Hollywood Park were running.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fillies and mares were in the spotlight here Sunday, and sharing top billing were the champion, Financingavailable, and the potential challenger, Arden Belle.
Financingavailable, a 6-year-old trained by Lorne Richards, recorded the 14th win of her career and boosted her bankroll to $1,113,779 by capturing the $125,000 Victoriana at 1 1/16 miles on turf. She was the Sovereign Award winner in her division last season.
HENDERSON, Ky. - Trainer Greg Foley said he will soon begin looking for a next race for Pleasant Hill, the Donamire Farm filly who rolled to a front-running victory Saturday in her stakes debut, the Grade 3 Gardenia Handicap at Ellis Park.
Pleasant Hill, ridden by Larry Melancon, earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. She held off the late-flying High Heels to win the one-mile Gardenia by a length. High Heels, the 3-1 favorite and the only 3-year-old in a field of 11, finished another 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Brownie Points, the 3-1 second choice and 118-pound highweight.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Pitamakan set an Arlington Park Polytrack record for 1 1/16 miles winning the Hatoof Stakes wire to wire on Sunday, but she didn't impress the Beyer Speed Figure makers, earning only an 88 Beyer for her meet-best time.
Moreover, Pitamakan perhaps was not not even the most impressive horse in the Hatoof, which was moved from grass to Polytrack because of persistent rain. You Go West Girl, the 4-5 Hatoof favorite, uncorked a furious rally in the final quarter-mile, falling one length short in a race that ended at the normal sixteenth pole.
