Several contenders for the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 12 will run in the prestigious race without the benefit of a recent start. For the trainers behind those runners, that is an ideal approach toward the richest race for older Quarter Horses.
Even with official word having come down Tuesday that Tiz the Law will not run in the Oct. 3 Preakness, trainer Ken McPeek said the following morning that “we’re not in any hurry” in deciding whether Swiss Skydiver will contest the final leg of the 2020 Triple Crown.
“I’m still probably going to wait until Monday morning to decide,” McPeek said.
Tiz a Slam was retired by Chiefswood Stables after trainer Roger Attfield sent him out to finish seventh in Saturday’s Grade 3 Singspiel.
Tiz a Slam captured the Grade 3 Ontario Derby after ending up second in the 2017 Queen’s Plate. He evolved into a turf expect and put together a three-race win steak in graded stakes last year that included his second straight triumph in the Grade 2 Nijinsky. He won 9 of 31 starts and $1.26 million.
Chiefswood general manager Robert Landry said stallion plans are pending for the 6-year-old homebred by Tiznow.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Starship Jubilee earned a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup in her emphatic victory in Saturday’s $1 million Woodbine Mile, and the venerable 7-year-old is probably headed for a Breeders’ Cup race at Keeneland.
A $16,000 claim by trainer Kevin Attard at Gulfstream in 2017, Starship Jubilee won the Grade 2 Canadian in each of the past two years, but Attard decided to bypass that nine-furlong stakes on Sept. 12 in favor of the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile after she had run twice at Saratoga.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Apprentice jockey Charlie Marquez, 17, will begin riding at Belmont Park on Friday, having moved his tack from Laurel. He will be represented by Angel Cordero Jr., the Hall of Fame rider who also is the agent for Manny Franco.
Marquez is the son of jockey Carlos Marquez Jr. and the grandson of Carlos Marquez Sr., whom Cordero said he rode with in the 1970s. Carlos Marquez Sr. also was a teacher at Puerto Rico’s Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school.
ELMONT. N.Y. – Volatile, winner of the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in July at Saratoga, may have only three challengers in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont Park.
As of Sunday, the racing office listed Firenze Fire, T Loves a Fight, and Share the Ride as others expected to run in the Vosburgh, which offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Code of Honor worked five furlongs in 1:03.06 on Monday morning over Belmont Park’s main track in preparation for a start in the Grade 2, $150,000 Kelso Handicap here Oct. 3.
Javier Castellano was aboard Code of Honor on Monday morning and will ride him in the Kelso. John Velazquez, Code of Honor’s regular rider, is scheduled to ride Authentic that same day in the Preakness at Pimlico.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Maximum Security and Improbable will see a lot of each other this fall, but trainer Bob Baffert kept them apart for key workouts Monday morning at Santa Anita as they prepare for their first of two autumn showdowns.
Although the country’s top older males worked five furlongs an hour apart on Monday, their autumn race schedule is the same. Maximum Security and Improbable both run Saturday in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita, followed by the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
The New York Gaming Commission hopes to hold a hearing in October to discuss restrictions on the use of the whip as the next step in devising new whip-use rules, members of the commission said at a meeting on Monday.
Magic Attitude added some much-needed depth to the 3-year-old filly turf division with a solid 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational.
In her North America debut, Magic Attitude was last of five early on under Javier Castellano before making an eye-catching move on the turn to seize control of the race by upper stretch. She covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.14 and earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
