Trainer Neil Drysdale may have thought he had found an easy spot for Double Cat to make her stakes debut in Tuesday's $55,000 Quill at Delaware Park. But the overnight stakes, which will be run at one mile on the turf, came up far tougher than Drysdale may have suspected.
Stakes winners Lady of the Future, Shag, and Rhum - all of whom have been posting Beyer Speed Figures in the mid-90's - are among the horses Double Cat must face in the Quill.
DEL MAR, Calif. - After running in group stakes in England and Germany earlier this summer, Atarama should find the field in a $60,000 allowance race at Del Mar on Monday to be an easier group.
A victory by Atarama would give Kristin Mulhall, 20, her first winner as a trainer.
Kristin Mulhall is the daughter of Richard Mulhall, the racing manager of The Thoroughbred Corporation, the stable that owns Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem.
Atarama is owned by The Thoroughbred Corp. She was one of six European horses sent to Kristin Mulhall in mid-summer.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Barry Abrams has a simple explanation for the progress that Kachamandi has shown this summer.
"On the turf, he became a good horse," Abrams said.
Friday, Kachamandi ($17.60) pulled an upset in the restricted $75,125 Harry Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar. The turf stakes was Kachamandi's first major win in 10 starts in this country. Last year, in Chile, Kachamandi won a Group 3 race on dirt.
If Delaware Park presented an award to the season's most improved filly sprinter, Bruanna would be the likely winner.
Since late May, when she was running for a $35,000 claiming tag, Bruanna has reeled off four consecutive wins while rising in class to stakes company. The last two wins have come since the 4-year-old Bruanna was claimed by trainer Mike Gorham.
Bruanna will seek to extend her winning streak to five races when she tries for her second stakes triumph in Monday's $55,000 Veiled Look, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares.
MIAMI - Gemma's Star emerged from a four-horse battle for the lead around the second turn and scored a convincing 2 1/2-length victory over 9-5 favorite Susie's Poker and six other 3-year-olds in Saturday's $75,000 Blazing Sword Stakes at Calder.
Gemma's Star rated off the early pace of Sebastian Light through the opening half-mile of the 1 1/16-mile Blazing Sword. He moved four wide to engage for command midway down the backstretch under jockey Manny Aguilar, shook clear in early stretch, and gradually increased his advantage in the final furlong.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Runaway Love, the longest shot in the four-horse field, overhauled Krz Ruckus in the final furlong to post a three-quarter-length score in the $126,000 Shepperton Stakes at Woodbine.
Krz Ruckus and Trailthefox dueled each other into submission in the 2001 Shepperton, and the same pace scenario played out in this year's running of the 6 1/2-furlong dash for Ontario-sired runners. That duo hooked up through splits of 22.21 and 44.69 seconds, before favored Krz Ruckus gave way to Runaway Love, who got the distance in 1:16.97.
Bolaro ($6.80) chased the pacesetting Pyrite Dance until deep stretch, then dug in under strong handling by Luis Gonzalez to make the lead and drew off to a 1 3/4-length win over her seven 2-year old Ohio-bred filly rivals in the $40,000 Miss Ohio Stakes at Thistledown.
Pyrite Dance finished gamely to gain second over Orangeberry by a nose.
Bolaro, a chestnut daughter of Sandpit, was bred by her owner, Edward Marshall, and got the six furlongs in 1:12.10 over a fast track.
Dash for Daylight once again showed his fondness for Ellis Park by drawing clear to win the $75,000 Governor's Handicap in Henderson, Ky.
Ridden by Larry Melancon and trained by Elliott Walden, Dash for Daylight put away the 6-5 favorite, Danthebluegrassman before finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Frazee's Folly in the one-mile race.
Robin Zee finished third and Danthebluegrassman wound up last in a field of seven 3-year-olds and upward.
The winner paid $5.60, and ran the one-mile race in in 1:37.35.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - With jockey Gerard Melancon barely moving a muscle, heavily favored Bonapaw pulled away to post a popular victory Saturday in the $100,000 Arlington Sprint Handicap at Arlington Park.
Bonapaw, a 6-year-old gelding who now has won 16 of 33 lifetime starts, dueled early with Tic N Tin in the six-furlong race, then pulled away down the stretch to win by 4 1/2 lengths. Secret Romeo was all-out to get second by a head over Tic N Tin, who was followed by Sand Ridge and Halo Cat in a field of five older horses.