ETOBICOKE, Ontario – With just a week to go before the 161st running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, the field for the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown is starting to take shape.
A total of 16 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds are probable starters for the 1 1/4-mile classic on Tapeta, with the winners of the final stakes preps on Aug. 15, Curlin’s Voyage in the Woodbine Oaks and Clayton in the Plate Trial Stakes, headlining the early field.
Kentucky Derby entrant King Guillermo did not train Thursday morning at Churchill Downs and, in a developing story, trainer Juan Carlos Avila said the colt has "a little problem."
Avila declined to elaborate on the nature of the issue, but indicated that the colt would be thoroughly examined by a veterinarian that day, and that more information on his status would be forthcoming later Thursday.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Civil Union, winner of the River Memories Stakes on closing day at Belmont Park, and My Sister Nat, winner of the Grade 3 Waya Stakes here Aug. 8, top the field entered for the Grade 2, $200,000 Glens Falls Stakes, scheduled for 1 3/8 miles over the inner turf Saturday.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Frank’s Rockette, Reagan’s Edge, and Center Aisle, separated by less than a length when running 1-2-3 in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 4 at Belmont Park, will square off again in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Prioress at Saratoga.
The Prioress, like the Victory Ride, is run at six furlongs.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mystic Guide, the beaten favorite in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes, will get the addition of blinkers when he looks to make amends in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.
Mystic Guide, a son of Ghostzapper owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Michael Stidham, was as far back as 11 lengths off the pace in the Peter Pan. He rallied to be third, 3 1/2 lengths behind winner Country Grammer.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Having watched Math Wizard train so well at Saratoga, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was torn between running him in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic last Friday or the Grade 1 Woodward here on Saturday.
It looks like he’ll run in both.
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Math Wizard, who finished fifth in the Charles Town Classic, was entered Wednesday in the Woodward, which drew a field of six led by Tacitus.
Del Mar plans to run 42 races from Friday through Labor Day in the closing days of the track’s summer meeting. It may take that long to determine a close race for leading rider.
Through Monday, Umberto Rispoli led the standings with 42 wins, one more than Flavien Prat, who won his third summer riding title at Del Mar last year. Rispoli, who relocated from Hong Kong last December, is riding at Del Mar for the first time this summer.
Rispoli had three wins Monday to take the lead, doing so on his 32nd birthday.
Jockey Brice Blanc was released from a San Diego area hospital Tuesday after sustaining broken ribs in a one-horse spill in the eighth race Monday at Del Mar.
Blanc is expected to be sidelined for six weeks, according to his agent, George Bradvica.
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Warren’s Showtime led by a length in the stretch of the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Aug. 22 before finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind upset winner Red Lark.
Warren’s Showtime will have a final chance for a stakes win at the Del Mar summer meeting when she starts on the same course and distance in Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby.
