MIAMI - Trainer Dave Vivian will be the first to admit that Aclassysassylassy was not among the top 30 2-year-olds on his preference list at last April's Ocala Breeders' Sale, and that after bidding $32,000 on the daughter of Wild Event, he was praying somebody else would go to $33,000 for the pint-sized filly.
When she first arrived at Calder, Vivian remembers thinking that Aclassysassylassy looked like a Shetland pony next to the other horses in the barn.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $75,000 Sunny Slope Stakes for 2-year-olds Saturday at Santa Anita will not include impressive maiden winner Uncle Denny, who won his Oct. 7 debut with a 79 Beyer Speed Figure.
The figure would have made him a contender in the six-furlong Sunny Slope, but trainer Rafael Becerra said: "It's too short for him. If he's the horse we think he is, he'll run in the Prevue."
The Grade 3, seven-furlong Hollywood Prevue will be run Nov. 20 at Hollywood Park and could include Del Mar Futurity winner Declan's Moon.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Months earlier than usual, wet weather is causing havoc on Southern California racing. Two turf races Sunday were switched to the main track, the Wednesday card was expected to change pending more rain, and the Thursday card will make the racing office look like geniuses or otherwise.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Turf racing is the common thread in the Keeneland stakes schedule this week. After the Clark County, a turf sprint, is run Thursday, the three stakes that follow also will be run on the turf, beginning with the male counterpart to the Clark County, the Woodford County.
Fields for those three stakes are coming together this way:
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Toni Gabriel has had Oct. 21 circled on her calendar for a couple of months now. A jockey-turned-trainer, she began looking to the Clark County Stakes for Speedy Sonata soon after the filly ran three hard races at Ellis Park, and now the witching hour is near.
"I'm pretty nervous, but that's just because it's 'Speedy,'" said Gabriel, who trains Speedy Sonata for Carl Icahn. "She makes me nervous every time she runs."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sulamani and Punctilious, Godolphin stablemates who will be looking to orchestrate a Canadian International-E.P. Taylor Stakes double here Sunday, both stretched their legs over the main track Tuesday morning.
The $1.5 million International and the $750,000 Taylor, both Grade 1 turf races, will include contestants from Europe, the United States, and Canada.
Sulamani, a multiple Group 1 winner of more than $4.3 million, jogged once around the one-mile track under exercise rider Gerry Moylan.
CHICAGO - The Illinois breeding program lost one of its racing stars this week with the retirement of former Illinois horse of the year . If there is a replacement for her among the many statebreds racing Thursday at Hawthorne, it is not immediately apparent, but some of the horses in a pair of Illinois-bred entry-level allowance races - the co-features on a nine-race program - have shown enough to spark hope.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Handicappers relying on recent form may be in a quandary when analyzing Thursday's Bay Meadows feature, a first-level allowance race at six furlongs.
is the lone member of the six-horse field to show improvement in a recent start. But he may be suspect after a career-best Beyer Speed Figure that saw him improve 16 points in a $32,000 starter allowance victory in his first start since arriving from Emerald Downs.
Two runners who offer interesting credentials are Jamican Blue and King Wonderful, who drew the rail and the outside post, respectively.
Beau's Town, who had been pointed for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, will miss the race because his blood work after a major workout last week was not quite normal, said his owner, Dave Hulkewicz.
Beau's Town could surface in one of several other races. Under consideration are the Grade 1, $300,000 De Francis Dash at Pimlico on Nov. 20; the Grade 3, $150,000 Ack Ack Handicap at Churchill Downs on Oct. 31; and the $40,000 Total Rewards on turf at Louisiana Downs, also on Oct. 31.
