An honest pace and no rain. That's all trainer Mark Hennig will ask for when he sends Strategic Partner out against 11 rivals, including Ohio Derby winner Western Pride and local division leader Tv Sports Director, in Saturday's $200,000 Calder Derby for 3-year-old colts and geldings.
Strategic Partner, a son of Kris S, was generally regarded among the top members of his division after he upset Baptize to win the Crown Royal American Turf Stakes on May 4 at Churchill Downs.
Creaseinherjeans, seeking her fourth victory in a row, will carry high weight of 122 pounds for Saturday's $50,000-added Charles H. Russell Handicap. She will be spotting her six rivals from five to eight pounds in the six-furlong dash for fillies and mares. The Russell Cap will be the ninth race on a 10-race program.
PHOENIX, Ariz. - One race is wide open, the other looks like a coronation.
On Saturday, Turf Paradise runs two Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes. The male version, which goes as the sixth race on a 10-race card, is deep in contention. In the filly division, the eighth race, Fancy Prancer should confirm she is the best juvenile filly around.
Both races are for 2-year-olds who as yearlings were consigned to last year's ATBA fall sale. The male division lured a field of 12, and 10 entered the filly division. Both races are at six furlongs.
It's been a yearlong saga with 56 regional races at 21 tracks, and it concludes on Saturday night with the MBNA America Challenge Championships at Los Alamitos.
Five Grade 1 stakes with total purses of $775,000 headline the annual series, which is managed by the American Quarter Horse Association.
Horses qualified for the Saturday night stakes by winning or placing in their respective regional races.
Here's a rundown on the five Grade 1 races:
$300,000 MBNA America Challenge
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Pegasus Handicap has a history of showcasing the season's best 3-year-olds and rewarding the season's late-bloomers. The 21st running Friday night at The Meadowlands is shaping up the same way.
His spots chosen carefully, Burning Roma has turned in a lucrative campaign for trainer Anthony Dutrow. Friday night he will be the leader and the rest of the six-horse field will have to challenge to win the Grade 2, $250,000 race at 1 1/8 miles. Late-bloomers Volponi and Bowman's Band figure are the new faces hoping to emerge.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Five $75,000 stakes Friday will help build the drama to the $250,000 Pegasus Handicap at The Meadowlands.
The Skip Trial Stakes, for older sprinters, drew several runners weighing options on both sides of the Hudson River, including top New York-bred Say Florida Sandy.
James E. "Ted" Bassett III announced Wednesday that he is retiring after 15 years as the chairman of the board and 33 years at the Keeneland Association.
"It seemed like an appropriate time for the old guard to yield and let the dynamic new team lead Keeneland into the future," said Bassett, who will turn 80 on Oct. 26.
Nick Nicholson, the president of Keeneland since early 2000, called Bassett "the heart and soul of Keeneland."
Heaven Came Down, a strong second in allowance company last out at Pomona, heads a field of seven fillies and mares in Friday's feature race at Bay Meadows. The six-furlong allowance race offers a purse of $32,000 and will be the seventh race on the eight-race card.
Before her good performance at Pomona, Heaven Came Down led throughout to beat a group of $20,000 claimers at Bay Meadows. She also won her previous outing wire-to-wire against $16,000 claimers at Del Mar.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Tap Dance's worst efforts have come at Belmont Park, but they have been in Grade 1 company. On Friday at Belmont, Tap Dance, a graded stakes winner, is in a much easier spot in a third-level allowance race, where her main rival figures to be Majority Whip.
The $48,000 allowance, a mile dirt race, drew seven fillies, including the Nick Zito-trained entry of Stop for Schnapps and Out of Sync.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - They had two close encounters in May but since then have taken divergent paths. On Friday at Keeneland, Iftiraas meets up with Gino's Spirits in the $75,000 Bryan Station Stakes, a race that should prove an interesting rematch between the two grass runners.
Iftiraas, trained by Bill Mott, won the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile in front of a huge Kentucky Derby Day crowd on May 5, finishing a neck ahead of Gino's Spirits. Three weeks later, the pair raced together again at Lone Star Park, with Iftiraas finishing third and Gino's Spirits fourth.