ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher had two thoughts about Speightstown when he first looked at him in the summer of 1999. First, he would be a good 2-year-old. Second, he would excel in races up to one mile.
Pletcher was half right.
, who was purchased by Eugene Melnyk for $2 million at auction as a yearling, finished last in his only start at 2. He emerged from that race with bucked shins, the first in a series of infirmities that would plague the now 6-year-old son of Gone West.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Peace Rules, a multiple Grade 1 winner and earner of more than $3 million, will be retired after developing filling in a leg that would force him to miss the major races this fall.
had been pointing to Saturday's $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, where he would most likely have been the favorite.
Trainer Bobby Frankel discovered the filling in the colt's left foreleg on Monday.
"It's nothing that's going to make a cripple out of him," said Frankel, who earlier this year retired Medaglia d'Oro.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The retirement on Tuesday of Peace Rules following the defection on Monday of Seattle Fitz left Saturday's $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup without any true speed.
That's why trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. has decided to run Love of Money in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup rather than the $500,000 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park that night. Love of Money is coming off a gate-to-wire victory in the $750,000 Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park on Sept. 6.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Cloakof Vagueness was nominated to the Grade 1 Ruffian on Sept. 19, but her trainer, Phil Hauswald, wanted to give her a little more time between starts and maybe find a softer spot.
Hauswald found that spot in Thursday's third race at Belmont Park, an optional claimer for fillies and mares at a mile on the dirt which offers a purse of $52,000. Three of the runners in the six-horse field - Childress, Fidget, and Artist Johanna - are eligible to be claimed for $75,000.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Two-time Grade 1 winner Stellar Jayne and Monmouth Oaks winner Capeside Lady head a field of nine entered on Tuesday for Friday evening's Grade 3, $400,000-added Indiana Breeders' Cup Oaks at Hoosier Park.
The Indiana BC Oaks, contested at 1 1/16 miles, will be run as the ninth race with a post time of 9:45 p.m. Eastern.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The fastest 2-year-old in the country will skip the Breeders' Cup and aim instead for the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity in December. Trainer Ron Ellis said Tuesday that Declan's Moon, who earned a 107 Beyer Figure beating Roman Ruler in the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 8, will be freshened for the fall meet at Hollywood Park, and return Nov. 20 in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Cavonnier Stakes on Thursday at Santa Anita may be a prep for the California Cup Juvenile, but ramifications of the seven-furlong Cavonnier go well beyond the statebred ranks.
When he races seven furlongs in the Cavonnier, Swiss Lad can either validate the the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity - the fastest 2-year-old race this year - or throw cold water on a hot race. Swiss Lad finished nearly 10 lengths behind Declan's Moon and Roman Ruler in the Futurity, which was run in a blazing 1:21.29 and earned a 107 Beyer.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Picadilly Bay has a decided edge in the Beyer Speed Figure department in Thursday's Woodbine feature.
The $25,000 optional claimer, for nonwinners of three, will be contested at 1 1/16 miles for a purse of $36,400. All eight entrants will run without a tag.
Picadilly Bay was on the Queen's Plate trail in the spring after having won his first two starts of the year. After faring poorly in the Victoria Park Stakes, however, he bypassed the Plate in favor of the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - The importance of having a recent race will be one of the factors handicappers must weigh in Thursday's Bay Meadows feature, a $25,000 claimer at 1 1/16 miles.
Dixie Thrill, who ran fourth against similar company on the turf in his last start, has recency in his corner.
