DEL MAR, Calif. - If he ever gets out of training, Dave Bernstein could teach speed reading. The trainer of Unfurl the Flag took a quick glance at the past performances of Sunday's Grade 2, $300,000 Pat O'Brien Breeders' Cup Handicap, then sized up the field the way many handicappers will.
"It looks favorable for us," Bernstein said. "He has drawn well. Beau Soleil has a ton of speed. It's going to be who's good enough between those two, and then whether they can hold off the closers."
DEL MAR, Calif. - What a Song, the top-ranked 2-year-old male in California, was euthanized on Friday after suffering a sesamoid injury in an early morning gallop at Del Mar.
The injury occurred to What a Song's right foreleg. What a Song was galloping in the stretch when he bobbled while switching leads, trainer Bob Baffert said.
"It was a routine gallop," Baffert said. "I think he might have hit a bad spot. This is so tough."
DEL MAR, Calif. - Cole Norman, the third-leading trainer in the nation by victories, has been banned from entering horses in California for one year after a horse he started at Del Mar in July was found to have exceeded the permitted limit of carbon dioxide levels.
The overage occurred in a blood test taken from Top Commander, who finished fifth in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Handicap on July 31.
Norman's penalty is the most severe since a consortium of racetracks and industry officials began to conduct statewide testing for excessive carbon dioxide levels earlier this year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - His one bad performance behind him, Offlee Wild looks to take another step to a meaningful fall campaign on Sunday when he heads an underwhelming six-horse field entered in the $250,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap.
, in which he settled about 10 lengths behind the runaway speed of Record Buster before rallying for a 1 1/4-length victory. Sizing up the competition for this Grade 2 race, trainer Richard Dutrow doesn't believe Offlee Wild has to be as good to win.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bruce Lunsford has already retired Madcap Escapade. By year's end, Lansdon Robbins will do the same with Offlee Wild. Already, though, both Louisville-based horse owners have something to look forward to.
Lunsford and Robbins went to the horse sales last September and bought four yearling colts. The first one, First Samurai, has already paid huge dividends, winning his first two starts to emerge as a major player for next Saturday's Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.
CHICAGO - Tamweel has joined the barn of Steve Asmussen and has taken up training at Arlington Park, where she breezed a slow half-mile this past week. But whether Tamweel is ready for another shot in the Arlington Matron Handicap on Sept. 3 is an open question.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Cigno d'Oro and Eastern Gale, two leading New Jersey-bred mares, square off Sunday in the $60,000 Girl Powder Handicap at Monmouth Park.
The statebred stakes drew seven for the one-mile race.
Cigno d'Oro will try to recapture her excellent form at the start to the meet in New Jersey-bred stakes. A 6-year-old trained by Bob Durso, she was second in the Open Mind Handicap at six furlongs and won the one mile, 70-yard Spruce Fir Handicap next time out.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Naissance Royale took advantage of a contested pace between the two favorites and then showed some grit in the stretch to prevail by a head over My Typhoon in Friday's Grade 2, $150,000 at Saratoga.
My Typhoon, the 8-5 favorite, was game in defeat, holding second by 1 3/4 lengths over Victory Lap after pressing Ready's Gal through hot early fractions.
The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday approved the sale of Hollywood Park from Churchill Downs to the Bay Meadows Land Co., a decision that will allow Bay Meadows to operate Hollywood Park as a simulcast facility starting in September, when the sale is scheduled to be completed.
Bay Meadows will appear before the board again in September to request a license to conduct a meeting at Hollywood Park in November and December.
