Millsap Stables and trainer Hal Wiggins could see lightning strike twice at Louisiana Downs on Saturday, when they send out Roll On Roll On in the $50,000 Razorback Futurity. The connections won last year's running of the race with Brassie Prince, a full brother to Roll On Roll On.
The Razorback is the first of two stakes on the card, both at six furlongs and both restricted to 2-year-olds bred in Arkansas. Its counterpart for fillies is the $50,000 Lady Razorback.
Miraculous Miss took an unscheduled extended vacation after she fell on her back in the starting gate and sustained cuts on her left hind leg and above her left eye prior to the June 10 Acorn at Belmont Park.
The nearly five-month respite from racing between her wins in the Grade 1 Comely in April and last month's Grade 3 Endine Handicap at Delaware Park has a silver lining, however. Trainer Steve Klesaris now has a fresh filly for the fall's biggest races.
has a score to settle with Pure as Gold in the Grade 1, $250,000 Ancient Title Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
The six-furlong race is Bordonaro's first start since his controversial defeat in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Handicap on July 30 at Del Mar. Favored at 4-5, Bordonaro got smacked on the face by the whip of Pure as Gold's rider, lost focus, and finished a half-length behind. The video replay failed to provide stewards with sufficient evidence to disqualify Pure as Gold, and the result was allowed to stand. Saturday is payback time.
On Thursday, when the field for the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup was formalized, trainer Tom Albertrani was quite pleased the race didn't come up as tough as it could have for Bernardini.
"I would rather keep the testing for the Breeders' Cup," Albertrani said moments after Bernardini was assigned post 1 in a four-horse field. "I would rather see the horse have a race pretty much as he did in the Jim Dandy, where he would come out of it and be fresh for the Breeders' Cup."
Trainer Jaime Gomez had the best possible result in the Governor's Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos in late July. Two of his starters - Checknbac and Tac It Like a Man - finished in a dead heat for first in the $418,000 race for 2-year-old Quarter Horses. Both were rested after that race and geared toward a fall campaign of three futurities. They are among the 10 qualifiers for the first of those races, Saturday's $450,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity at Los Alamitos.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky Oaks winners have met on the racetrack in the past, but certainly not all that often. The last time it happened was nearly seven years ago, and what an anticlimax it was: Keeper Hill was fourth and Silverbulletday was sixth in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Gulfstream Park.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Don MacRae said he got lucky for Saturday's six-furlong Lucky Fan Cup, the second-to-last of 20 Cup races here at the Fort Erie meeting.
The $30,000 Lucky Fan is restricted to 2-year-fillies who have had a start at the Fort. Just five runners were entered, and two of them are from the barn of MacRae: Miss Jailynne and Stylish Belle. Both are owned by Anthony Zizza.
"There's not too much in there," said MacRae. "Both fillies are very talented. I'm hoping speed goes. Miss Jailynne is just coming around."
ARCADIA, Calif. - , the top turf miler in the United States, will have to wait a month to find a formidable opponent in a major stakes this fall. He will be facing a moderate field in an attempt to win his fourth consecutive stakes in Saturday's $250,000 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.
The race is Aragorn's final start before the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Circular Quay's record indicates he is perfect - but the way he has won his races might be even better.
Rare indeed is a colt who has ascended to the top of the 2-year-old division by using a stretch-running style more closely associated with mature racehorses. Circular Quay has rallied from well behind to win all three of his starts, all sprints, and when he runs as an odds-on favorite in the Grade 1, $500,000 on Saturday at Keeneland, he will be trying to prove that his come-from-behind style can be equally effective in two-turn races.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The front-running Fleet Indian has won all five of her starts this year, in large part because she has gotten favorable pace scenarios in those races. The late-running has lost all five of her starts this year, in large part because she has not gotten favorable pace scenarios.
Such was the case in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga when Fleet Indian waltzed to an easy 4 1/2-length victory over Balletto, who had to move earlier than her connections would have preferred in finishing second.
