LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Pirate’s Punch took the highly regarded Gray Magician to the limit in his last race, furthering his sharp recent form over dirt.
Off his neck loss behind Gray Magician on Oct. 11 at Keeneland, Pirate’s Punch looks as good as any of the nine entered in the ninth race here on Sunday, a $99,000 second-level allowance that anchors a 10-race card to close out another five-day race week here.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Renay Borel notched the first win of her training career when Flatoutandfoxy rallied to win the fifth race Wednesday at Churchill. Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, the trainer’s husband, was aboard the 3-year-old filly for owner Carson McCord.
Renay Borel, 32, is a native of Bradenton, Fla. She had worked for years as an exercise rider prior to bearing the couple’s son, Chase, in September 2017.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Adam Beschizza is leaving this circuit to arrive early at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, where the 2019-20 meet begins Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28. Beschizza was the leading jockey at the 2018-19 Fair Grounds meet.
Beschizza had hoped to resume riding at Churchill after recovering from a fractured collarbone suffered in an Oct. 9 spill on the Keeneland turf course, but circumstances were such that “it just made more sense for him to get all settled in” at Fair Grounds, said agent Liz Morris.
“He’d really like to be leading rider again,” Morris said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dennis’ Moment left the Dale Romans stable at Churchill Downs early Thursday for WinStar Farm, where the star-crossed colt will get about 45 days off before being reunited with his trainer in Florida sometime next month.
Romans said the Albaugh Family Stables colt was examined “really closely” by equine veterinarian John Garrity prior to being sent to WinStar in Versailles, Ky.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Haikal, who won the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes in the spring, worked four furlongs in 50.90 seconds on Wednesday morning over the Belmont Park training track as he gets closer to a return to the races.
Haikal started five lengths behind a stablemate and made up all but one at the wire. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said the workmate, Qaabil, started too far in front at the beginning of the work.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After flirting with the idea of sending Tax to Churchill Downs for Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Commonwealth Turf for 3-year-olds, trainer Danny Gargan said the goal for the Jim Dandy winner will be the Grade 3, $250,000 Discovery on dirt on Nov. 30 at Aqueduct.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The $100,000 Atlantic Beach for 2-year-olds going a mile on Saturday is a popular race as 14 were entered. Only 12 will be permitted to start in the six-furlong turf stakes.
The field includes Freewheeler, Embolden, and Jack and Noah, the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers behind Four Wheel Drive in the Grade 3 Futurity on Oct. 6 at Belmont. Four Wheel Drive won last week’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.
Sam Houston has announced significant upgrades to its purse structure for the 39-date meet that opens Jan. 10. The track, which is running seven more dates than last year, races through March 28.
Trainer Joey Foster has built up a stable to be reckoned with in Louisiana and on Friday night will saddle starters in two of the three allowances carded at Delta Downs.
Foster, 57, won his fourth Louisiana Downs training title at the end of September. He’s since set up divisions of his stable at Delta and Fair Grounds, which opens Nov. 28.
“He’s a really underrated horseman,” said Morris Nicks, the retired trainer who has longstanding ties to Foster. “He can train with anybody.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The $150,000 Artie Schiller Stakes is figuratively and literally a long way from the Breeders’ Cup Mile. But it could end up being an ideal backup plan for Caribou Club, who on Wednesday was one of 10 horse entered in Saturday’s Artie Schiller going one mile at Aqueduct.
