ELMONT, N.Y. - The ease and brilliance Discreet Cat displayed winning his comeback race last month at Saratoga had racing fans looking forward to the undefeated 3-year-old facing top-quality competition in the fall.
That anticipation turned to disappointment when Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin Racing, which owns Discreet Cat, laid out a fall campaign that didn't include the Breeders' Cup Classic, but does include Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000 Jerome Handicap at Belmont Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Patrick Valenzuela will not be allowed to ride Wednesday's opening day of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting after he was unable to provide California Horse Racing Board officials with requested documents from doctors explaining the details of his recent absence, according to his agent and attorney.
Valley Loot, winner of the Temptress Stakes earlier this month at Great Lakes Downs, heads a field of eight Michigan-bred 2-year old fillies there in the Sickle's Image Stakes on Wednesday.
The Sickle's Image, originally carded for Saturday, was postponed when heavy rain caused poor track conditions, prompting Great Lakes to cancel the last four of eight scheduled races. Valley Loot, 3-1 on the track's morning line, will face five of the fillies she defeated in the Temptress, plus two new faces.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Trainers Don Gilkyson and Doug MacDonald both saddled two winners last Saturday during the 10th edition of Alberta Fall Classic Day for Alberta-bred runners here at Northlands Park.
Gilkyson won both of the $75,000 features for older runners, with Candid Remark ($10.30) running down Arthurlooksgood in the Alberta Breeders' Handicap and Banjo Babe ($4.80) outlasting 21-1 To Dream Again by a half-length in the Fall Classic Distaff.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Rewrite gets a shot at redemption in Wednesday's $65,000 Irish Actress Stakes at Belmont Park.
After winning her first three starts on grass, Rewrite was anointed the queen of New York-bred 3-year-old turf fillies heading into the Irish Linnet Stakes last month at Saratoga. Sent off as the 3-5 favorite in the field of 10, Rewrite was pinched back at the start then raced four to five wide under Mike Smith and did not offer her usual strong closing kick down the lane while finishing sixth, beaten 4 1/2 lengths by Homerette.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The specter of the Breeders' Cup either transfigured or disfigured autumn racing in Southern California, and no meet takes the brunt harder than the Oak Tree Racing Association.
Oak Tree begins its 26-day meet Wednesday at Santa Anita with a schedule that is front-loaded with eight graded stakes - a prep for each BC race - the first two weekends of the meet. No saving the best for last. With the Breeders' Cup only 38 days away, California horses need to prep - now.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The forecast was for temperatures in the high 80's at Santa Anita on Monday, and it often gets hotter here, especially in the summer, when temperatures can crack 100 degrees. In the winter, however, there is rain to deal with, and many times temperatures dip below freezing overnight.
Tom Tomillo, outfitted with a prosthesis after losing a leg this spring because of diabetes, is ambulatory again, out at the racetrack every day after having to curtail his everyday activity while he recovered from a serious illness that led to the amputation.
"I'm feeling great," Tomillo said early Monday afternoon.
Perhaps the clearest indication that jockey Alex Solis has recovered from a rib injury suffered earlier this month is that he spent part of the weekend on the golf course. Solis, who hasn't ridden in more than three weeks, will return to riding at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting, which begins Wednesday.
Solis missed the last day at Del Mar after being unseated shortly after the start of the ninth race Sept. 4, a spill that resulted in bruised ribs. Solis did not ride during the Fairplex Park meeting at the Los Angeles County Fair this month.
