OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Pickin’ Time, who won Sunday’s Grade 3 Nashua Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct, will get the opportunity to stretch out to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 2, $150,000 Remsen Stakes on Dec. 5 at Aqueduct.
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer David Donk had a bad feeling about the Belmont Park fall meet early on.
“My first six starters at Belmont, I had four seconds and a third, and when one of them didn’t win I said, ‘This could be a problem,’ ” Donk said. “And sure enough.”
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Firenze Fire, a solid third in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland, was back in trainer Kelly Breen’s Belmont Park barn by Sunday afternoon while owner Ron Lombardi contemplates what’s next for the 5-year-old Florida-bred son of Poseidon’s Warrior.
Lombardi said Monday he’s torn between retiring Firenze Fire and making him a stallion or continuing to race him. There’s even the possibility of running him once or twice more and then retiring him early in 2021. Lombardi didn’t reject the notion of trying the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile on Dec. 5 at Aqueduct.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Bret Calhoun said plans for By My Standards’s immediate future should be decided by week’s end, with a possible run in the Nov. 27 Clark at Churchill not having been ruled out for the 4-year-old colt.
“We’re going to give him a full evaluation and hopefully come to a decision fairly soon,” Calhoun said.
By My Standards, a winner of three graded stakes for older horses this year, was never a serious factor Saturday when finishing eighth at 16-1 in the BC Classic at Keeneland.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Swiss Skydiver came out of her disappointing effort in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in good order despite “a couple of nicks and dings” and will be regrouped for a 4-year-old campaign, trainer Ken McPeek said Sunday at Churchill Downs.
Mere hours after leading Monomoy Girl off the van at the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds early Sunday in Lexington, Ky., trainer Brad Cox was back in the winner’s circle at Churchill.
Cox saddled a 2-year-old Munnings filly named Sun Path for an eye-catching maiden victory in the second race Sunday. The Juddmonte Farms homebred overcame an awkward start to win the seven-furlong race by three widening lengths.
Global Campaign is headed to stud at WinStar Farm in 2021, but before then it’s possible he’ll have one more start in the Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
Global Campaign finished third at 25-1 on Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland, earning a career-high 106 Beyer Speed Figure. The 4-year-old Curlin colt got a 104 in winning the Grade 1 Woodward in his prior start.
“The Pegasus is something that’s definitely under consideration,” Hunter Rankin, president of Sagamore Farm, said early Monday.
Bob Baffert left for Kentucky last week with three top contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He’s coming back to California with plenty of hardware, but with some pretty significant holes to fill.
Authentic beat stablemate Improbable by 2 1/4 lengths in the Classic on Saturday at Keeneland, which should secure champion 3-year-old male, as well as Horse of the Year, for Authentic, as well as the older dirt male title for Improbable.
Alex Trebek, who died Sunday at age 80 in Los Angeles after a lengthy illness, was famous throughout the world as the host of the popular quiz show “Jeopardy!”
But aside from television, Trebek’s sporting interest included a decade-long ownership of Creston Farm in central California in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and a small stable of racehorses. Creston Farms owned Reba’s Gold, a three-time stakes winner who earned $717,422 racing mostly in Southern California.
All-sources handle at Del Mar on Breeders’ Cup programs Friday and Saturday were well above expectations, a leading track official said Sunday.
Handle on Breeders’ Cup simulcasts generated by Southern California fans through inter-track wagering at satellite and mini-satellite locations, account wagering sources, and a limited audience ontrack at Del Mar was “a little bit under $14 million in two days,” according to Del Mar chief financial officer Mike Ernst.
“We had projected under $9 million,” Ernst said.
