ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Norfolk Knight held off 2-5 favorite Mobil in the stretch for a neck victory in Saturday's Grade 3, $159,450 at Woodbine.
Norfolk Knight led throughout the nine-furlong contest, setting honest fractions of :23.74, :47.29 and 1:11.44 seconds under apprentice Jill Scharfstein.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jockey Eddie Martin Jr. escaped serious injury in the 10th race Friday night at Lone Star Park when he was thrown from his mount, Lupe's Love, after she clipped heels with another rival midway on the final turn of a one-mile dirt race for conditioned claimers. Lupe's Love did not appear to suffer any major injuries.
Dr. Kashnikow rallied from last to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Friday night at The Meadowlands Racetrack and end a long victory drought.
The 7-year-old grey gelding trained by John R. Fisher posted his first win since the Grade 3 River City Handicap at Churchill Down in November, 2002.
"It's been two years since he won a race but he's always been there," said Fisher. "He ran a great race."
Jockey Richard Migliore let the veteran, who carried 116 pounds, settle early before asking for run entering the final turn.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The last significant stakes of the fall Oak Tree meet will be run Sunday at Santa Anita, where a strong field of 3-year-olds race 1 1/8 miles on turf in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby. Afterward, the shadow of the Oct. 30 Breeders' Cup descends on the five-week meet.
The $150,000 Oak Tree Derby cannot be run without considering its impact on the Breeders' Cup. There will be plenty to re-evaluate after Sunday. runs in the Oak Tree Derby, and his effort can either flatter or discredit the horse who beat him by a neck last out - BC Mile-bound Blackdoun.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Wilko, a two-time winner in England this year, has been acquired privately by Paul Reddam and will be pointed for the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.
Reddam said the deal was finalized Wednesday and that Wilko will start for trainer Jeremy Noseda in the Juvenile. Wilko will be sent to trainer Craig Dollase in California following the Breeders' Cup.
The Hollywood Park fall meeting from Nov. 3 to Dec. 20 will feature six Grade 1 stakes this year, including one race promoted to that level for the first time, the $400,000 Citation Handicap on Nov. 27.
But six of the 20 stakes during the meet will have lower purses, including the $500,000 Hollywood Derby.
The derby is one of three Grade 1 races during the Autumn Turf Festival, Nov. 26-28. The purse for the derby, a 1 1/4-mile grass race, was reduced by $100,000 from 2003.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - It's crunch time at Lone Star Park, where the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships will be held on Oct. 30. Pre-entries for the championship races will be taken on Monday, the same day the first shipment of Breeders' Cup horses is due to arrive in Texas.
And just as the fields for the races are starting to come together, the massive project of installing 39,000 temporary seats at the track is coming to an end.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kitten's Joy, the 3-year-old grass star who figures a solid favorite in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf, had his first workout since his sensational win in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic when he breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:03.40 Friday over a soft Keeneland turf course.
Trainer Dale Romans had Kitten's Joy shipped to Keeneland from his Churchill Downs base for the late-morning workout. Ken Ramsey, who with his wife, Sarah, owns Kitten's Joy, was alongside Romans to watch the workout, which came with regular exercise rider Faustino Orantes aboard.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Dallas Stewart doesn't normally run a horse back so quickly, but he is having a hard time forgetting what Bobby Frankel did to him at Saratoga this summer.
"Beat me with Midas Eyes on an eight-day rest," he said. "I had Clock Stopper in the Grade 1 [Forego], and he runs second to Frankel."
