Fans at Mountaineer Race Track hardly could have asked for a more exciting and competitive race than what awaits them Sunday with the 37th running of the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby.
The 1 1/8-mile race carries a purse of $750,000 and drew a full field that figures to make for spirited wagering. And with a cross-section of some of the most promising American 3-year-olds in the field, the winner is almost certain to enhance his stature within the division.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5
We settled for a second and a third with Friday's plays. The runner-up finish by Hunter's Tale at 5-1 was especially frustrating, because he raced wide from post 6, and had been drawn on the rail when the race was originally scheduled to go on Wednesday. Of course, that was the day when a heat index of 107 forced the cancellation of a full card for the first time in 138 years at Saratoga.
Just one more way to lose a race, I guess.
On to Whitney Day.
RACE 1
DEL MAR, Calif. - Surf Cat, the winner of three stakes earlier this year and one of the nation's leading older horses, will not start until the winter meeting at Santa Anita because of a recurring foot injury, trainer Bruce Headley said.
Surf Cat has not started since winning the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap on May 13, his third stakes win of the year. Headley said that Surf Cat emerged from that race with a bruised foot. Surf Cat later resumed training, but was turned out when the injury resurfaced.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens may have paid Bill Boland the ultimate compliment when he described Boland's riding style.
"When he was coming down the stretch, he and Eddie Arcaro would be getting low and pushing hard," Jerkens said. "You couldn't tell which was which."
Boland, who rode Jerkens's first stakes winner, War Command in the 1955 Display Handicap, said he tried to pattern himself after Arcaro, regarded by many as the greatest rider of all time.
"He was a picture on a horse," Boland said of Arcaro.
Cherokee's Boy has earned more than $1 million the hard way, having raced 44 times at a wide variety of East Coast tracks. A 6-year-old homebred owned by the ZWP Stables, Cherokee's Boy is about as consistent as they come, having finished in the money in 35 of those races.
And yet, trainer Gary Capuano is usually leery about Cherokee's Boy's chances whenever he is asked to face graded stakes winners. That will be the main storyline Sunday, when Cherokee's Boy faces Don't Get Mad and Real Dandy in the $125,000 West Virginia Governor's Cup at the Mountaineer Race Track.
Never before has a horse brought such unusual-looking past performances to Mountaineer Racetrack - or to any track, for that matter.
Caller One, who figures as the horse to beat in the West Virginia Legislature Chairman's Cup - one of five $85,000 stakes on a sensational Sunday program at Mountaineer in Chester, W.Va. - not only has a $3.2 million bankroll but also has raced exclusively in the two-furlong Rocket Man at Calder in each of the last three years.
Procreate, who set a world record for five furlongs on turf last season but had gone winless for more than a year, rediscovered his best form to win Thursday night's $50,000 Pennsylvania Governor's Cup Handicap at Penn National Race Course.
Ridden for the first time by 18-year-old apprentice Rosie Napravnik, the 8-year-old Procreate ($21.40) established a clear lead from post 10, and got to the wire 1 1/2 lengths in front while covering five furlongs on firm turf in 55.46 seconds.
One start was all trainer Larry Jones needed to see from X Star before making ambitious plans for the 2-year-old filly.
After watching X Star cruise to a 6 3/4-length victory over eight maiden rivals at Delaware Park on July 15, earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, Jones is already talking about taking her to Kentucky for this fall's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
