The week’s racing at Del Mar ends Sunday with a maiden turf sprint for 2-year-old fillies featuring some promising youngsters, including Evoo, who was a fast-finishing second in her debut to Astute, one of the leading contenders in the Desi Arnaz on Saturday.
Evoo closed furiously to miss by a neck going 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita Oct. 12. Owing to the configuration of the turf course at Del Mar, she has to cut back to five furlongs for race 9 Sunday.
MIAMI – Trainer Joe Orseno went into the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint confident Imprimis had as good a chance as anybody to win the race. And as the field turned into the stretch, with Imprimis well positioned to launch his closing bid, Orseno’s confidence level grew.
But within seconds the dream ended. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. had to steady Imprimis sharply inside Leinster, ridden by Luis Saez, and behind the tiring Texas Wedge at the furlong marker, losing all chance. Ortiz eased Imprimis to the finish line in 13th place, 9 1/2 lengths behind race winner Glass Slippers.
The Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita Dec. 26, which already had a number of top-class 3-year-olds pointing to it, picked up another candidate Friday, when trainer Mark Glatt said that was the next likely spot for Collusion Illusion, who is back home at Santa Anita after finishing 12th last weekend in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
“That seems like the obvious choice – last 3-year-old race of the year, Grade 1, makes perfect sense for him,” Glatt said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The top 2-year-old colts in the Dale Romans barn are expected to have one more start this year, although the trainer’s top 2-year-old filly Girl Daddy won’t run again until 2021.
Sittin On Go and Smiley Sobotka will stay separated, with one likely to go in the Nov. 28 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill and the other in the Dec. 5 Remsen at Aqueduct. Romans said that Ultimate Badger will run in either of those Grade 2 races.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A trio of Sunday allowances anchor a 10-race Churchill card that brings the race week to an end with a 1 p.m. Eastern first post.
Race 7, the nominal feature, is a $95,000 turf sprint with wide-open conditions. A full field of 12 fillies and mares figures to have A Bit of Both and Change of Control among a core of lukewarm favorites, assuming weather conditions permit it to remain on the grass. A chance of showers and a high of 55 are in the Sunday forecast.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Julien Leparoux will have a new agent in Frank Lyons when he moves his tack to Gulfstream Park for the winter while his longtime agent Steve Bass stays home in Kentucky to recover from a serious heart ailment.
Leparoux, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, has been a perennial top-five rider for the last 15 years on the Kentucky circuit while mostly spending the winter months in Florida. He said Bass’s illness necessitated the change.
“We’ve had a lot of success together,” he said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Luis Miranda and owner Darryl Abramowitz will look to get a quick return on their investment when they run Ballagh Rocks, claimed for $62,500 out of his most recent race, in Saturday’s $100,000 Artie Schiller Stakes going a mile on turf at Aqueduct.
Ballagh Rocks was one of 13 horses entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Artie Schiller, though four of those were entered to run only if the race is moved to the main track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Halladay, who finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, will attempt to stretch out to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale Stakes on Dec. 12 at Gulfstream Park, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
How Halladay handles that distance will determine whether the Grade 1-winning miler will forge on to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at 1 3/16 miles on Jan. 23.
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