SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Galloping Grocer, an impressive maiden winner at Saratoga last year, returns to the races in Wednesday's $250,000 Cab Calloway Stakes.
, who hasn't run since finishing 13th in the Preakness, is the likely favorite among seven 3-year-olds entered in the Cab Calloway, a race restricted to the progeny of New York stallions.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ashado munched on peppermints Monday, a day after winning her seventh Grade 1 in the at Saratoga, and her trainer, Todd Pletcher, looked ahead to his next move with the leader of the filly and mare division.
In the winner's circle following Ashado's 9 1/2-length win in the Go for Wand, Pletcher said he would target the Ruffian on Sept. 11 and the Beldame on Oct. 1, before running Ashado in the Breeders' Cup Distaff on Oct. 29 at Belmont Park. Ashado, last year's champion 3-year-old filly, won the Breeders' Cup last year.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Bruce Headley sends his regrets, but not Surf Cat, for the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Sunday at Monmouth Park.
"I'm very sorry that we can't make it," Headley said. "I appreciate the invitation and really wish that we could come."
Headley said the shipping arrangements from California became too complicated.
CHICAGO - Perfect Drift so thoroughly outclassed the other horses in Saturday's Washington Park Handicap that even after checking and losing all his momentum just more than a quarter-mile from the finish, he still won by more than four lengths while going away at the wire. Perfect Drift ended a long losing streak on dirt while setting a track record for 1 3/16 miles, and earned a return trip to the $1 million Pacific Classic Aug. 21 at Del Mar, his trainer Murray Johnson said.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Halfway through the Sonoma County Fair meet, the new turf course has proven a hit with trainers, jockeys, and bettors.
The seven-eighth-mile track is lush and green. It is so quiet that you can barely hear the horses on it as they run down the stretch in front of the grandstand. It has played fairly, with horses winning on the front end, from a stalking position, and from off the pace, from the inside and the outside.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There's something about Woodbine that brings out the best in trainer Andrew Balding and jockey Martin Dwyer.
Balding and Dwyer made their first appearance here in the fall of 2003, traveling over from England with Phoenix Reach and going home with the top prize in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Canadian International.
Last Sunday, the duo was back with Silver Highlight, who in her North American debut recorded her first lifetime victory in the $250,000 over 1 1/4 miles of turf.
Prime Time T.V. came with an overpowering rush around the final turn and ran away to a 10 3/4-length win in the $100,000 Manitoba Lotteries Derby at Assiniboia Downs.
Wayzata Bay, the 9-5 favorite, rallied for second with Stormy Business, the 5-2 third choice, third, and longshot Brinello fourth.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A $100,000 optional claiming race headed by Rock Again highlights Wednesday's seven-race card at Woodbine. The program also includes a $100,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds.
Rock Again, a 5-year-old owned by Stronach Stable, was sidelined for nearly a year after finishing third behind Wando and Mobil in the 2003 Queen's Plate. He returned to action in May 2004, winning a second-level allowance and finishing third in the Grade 3 Eclipse Handicap, before being sidelined for another year.
Tara's Touch ($19.40) overhauled fellow Kentucky shipper Unbridled Sidney in deep stretch to win the Grade 3, $176,800 at Woodbine on Monday.
Unbridled Sidney, the 3-5 favorite, set sizzling fractions of 21.93 and 44.58 seconds on a clear lead in the six-furlong turf sprint. Tara's Touch raced in third along the rail on the turn about three lengths off the lead, in unison with Royal Liverpool.
Coastal Strike pressed the early pace and rallied in the lane for a half-length win in the $55,000 Trenton Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Monmouth Park.
Trained by Clifford Sise Jr. and ridden by Stewart Elliott, Coastal Strike ($13.80) covered the five furlongs over firm turf in 56.22 seconds. Mecke's Queen was second, and Big City Danse was third.
