Thursday, September 18 2008

CURLIN VS. BIG BROWN LOOMS FOR BREEDERS’ CUP XXV AT OAK TREE

Curlin vs. Big Brown—the showdown the racing world is waiting for—remained a possibility Wednesday morning when Steve Asmussen left the door open for a meeting between the two superstars in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic hosted by the Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

“I don’t think it’s been eliminated by Mr. (Jess) Jackson,” said Asmussen, trainer of 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin, by phone from New York early today, referring to Jackson, majority owner of Stonestreet Stables, which races Curlin.

Asmussen`s immediate goal with the 4-year-old son of Smart Strike is the $750,000 guaranteed Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 27. Should Curlin win or finish second or third, he would surpass Cigar as North America’s all-time money winner. Curlin’s earnings stand at $9,976,800; Cigar earned $9,999,815. A Gold Cup victory would be worth 60 percent to the winning horse, or $450,000; second is worth 20 percent, or $150,000; third is 10 percent, or $75,000.

Bob Benoit Memorial

ARCADIA, Calif. (Sept. 17, 2008)—A memorial tribute to long-time racing executive and publicist Bob Benoit has been set for Thursday, Oct. 16, at Santa Anita Park. The Oak Tree Racing Association is sponsoring the event, to be held immediately after the races in Santa Anita’s Turf Club Chandelier Room.

“Bob Benoit was a dear friend and an incredibly talented guy,” said Oak Tree Director and Executive Vice President Sherwood Chillingworth. “His mission was to promote our sport and nobody ever did it better than Bob. He loved the game and the people in it. Here at Oak Tree, we had a wonderful relationship with Bob and we’re going to miss him. He was truly one of a kind.”

Benoit, who passed away on Aug. 15, at the age of 81, was well known nationally and was regarded as

OAK TREE TO CARD A RECORD SIX GRADE I BREEDERS’ CUP PREP STAKES ON SEPT. 27

ARCADIA, Calif. (Sept. 17, 2008)—The Oak Tree Racing Association will card a record total of six Grade I Breeders’ Cup prep stakes on Saturday, Sept. 27. All six are Breeders’ Cup Challenge races and are part of the “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup incentive program.

The Goodwood Stakes, Yellow Ribbon Stakes, Oak Leaf Stakes, Clement Hirsch Turf Championship, Lady’s Secret Stakes and the Ancient Title Stakes will offer horsemen nearly $2 million in purses on the biggest Breeders’ Cup prep day in racing history.

Belmont Park Notes - Sept. 18/08

Hal J. Earnhardt’s Indian Blessing will again be the fans’ choice Saturday afternoon when she heads the field in the 15th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap for fillies and mares at six and a half furlongs.

The three-year-old Indian Charlie filly has won seven of nine career starts with two seconds. Last year’s champion juvenile filly, she won the Grade 1 Prioress in the mud here on July 5 and Saratoga’s Grade 1 Test on August 2.

DEFREREST OF ALL WINS FEATURE AT MONMOUTH

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Patricia Generazio’s Defrerest of All took command at the start and then made every pole a winning one en route to a four and a half-length victory in the $50,000 allowance feature at Monmouth Park on Wednesday.

The winner, trained by Tony Wilson and ridden by Carlos Marquez Jr., stepped the one mile and 70 yards over a fast main track in 1:44 1/5 and paid $5, $3.40 and $2.20 across the board as the favorite in the field of nine New Jersey-breds.

Monmouth Park Barn Notes for Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008

WHO’S THE COWBOY WILL MISS JOEY P. IN LINCROFT ‘CAP SATURDAY

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Who’s the Cowboy will be without archrival Joey P. in Saturday’s $60,000 Lincroft Handicap * Cuba, who has won three of five starts at Monmouth this summer, ships to Suffolk Saturday to take on some big guns in the Mass ‘Cap * Trainer Cam Gambolati is busy making plans for A.P. Cardinal, who broke his maiden last Sunday in his much-anticipated debut.

Looks like Who’s the Cowboy will feel certain loneliness in Saturday’s $60,000 Lincroft Handicap, one of the featured events of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival program.

Fillies to the Fore at Keeneland September Sale

Lexington, KY (September 17, 2008) – Fillies once again commanded the spotlight at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale, where on Wednesday a Tiznow filly brought top price of $400,000 from Legends Racing.

Consigned by Eaton Sales, agent for Overbrook Farm, the filly is out of Genuine Risk Handicap (G2) winner Katz Me If You Can, by Storm Cat.

Blandford Bloodstock paid the day’s second-highest price of $250,000 for a filly by Songandaprayer out of the stakes-placed El Gran Senor mare Forty Gran. She was consigned by Anderson Farms, agent for Kinghaven Farms.

ANTONGEORGI CELEBRATES OPENING DAY AT GOLDEN GATE FIELDS WITH HAT TRICK

ALBANY -- Jockey William Antongeorgi III celebrated opening day of the 2008 Golden Gate Fields fall meeting by riding three winners Wednesday.

Antongeorgi scored his victories for three different trainers, taking the fifth race with the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Warren's Pepe ($7.00), the sixth race with the Lloyd Mason-conditioned Formally Yours ($17.20) and the eighth race with the Greg Gilchrist-trained Snuffy Smith ($6.60).

Hollendorfer and Mason both had training doubles. In addition to winning the fifth race, Hollendorfer took the seventh with Like A Tiger ($5.20). Mason captured the fourth race with Longitude ($3.40) and then completed his double when Formally Yours won the sixth.

AMAZING RESULTS, CHITOZ VIE FOR LAKE MICHIGAN FAVORITISM

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (Sept. 17, 2008) – Team Block’s Amazing Results and Wertheimer & Frere’s Chitoz should vie to be public’s choice in the inaugural edition of the $100,000 Lake Michigan Stakes Saturday at Arlington Park.

Added to the stakes schedule for the first time this season, the Lake Michigan is for 3-year-olds at 5 ½ furlongs on the turf and could be considered a stepping stone for sophomores looking to run in the newly-created $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint to be run at Oak Tree at Santa Anita Park on Saturday, Oct. 25.

Amazing Results, an Illinois-registered son of Grand Slam, switches surfaces and turns back in distance after notching back-to-back wins over Arlington’s Polytrack. On Arlington Million Day Aug. 9, the Chris Block trainee beat open rivals in the Forward Pass Stakes over seven furlongs, and prior to that was victorious in state-bred company in the one-mile Springfield Stakes on Prairie State Festival Day June 21.

Arlington Park Barn Notes: Wed. Sept. 17

BUG BOY BRANDON CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

Apprentice jockey Brandon Meier, currently leading Arlington’s apprentice ranks with four racing days left in the local season, has packed his tack and headed to California, and should be getting on his first workers at Santa Anita Thursday morning.

“Brandon left me a message at 11:30 this morning,” said Emily Meier, Brandon’s sister and Arlington’s event coordinator early Wednesday afternoon. “At that time, he said he still had 200 miles to go, but he had just passed through Las Vegas.”

Wednesday, September 17 2008

Fillies Rule on Tuesday at Keeneland

Lexington, KY (September 16, 2008) – Fillies by Indian Charlie and Empire Maker topped Tuesday’s session of Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale.

John Brocklebank, as agent, went to $250,000 to purchase a filly by Indian Charlie out of the stakes-winning Dehere mare Her She Kisses. Consigned by Mill Ridge Sales, agent, the filly is from the family of graded stakes winners Crafty Shaw, Shawklit Mint, and Mr. Shawklit.

WOLFF NAMED MEADOWLANDS TRACK SUPERINTENDENT

The New Jersey Sports Exposition Authority has named Gary Wolff as Superintendent of Track and Backstretch Operations at Meadowlands Racetrack.

Wolff will oversee the maintenance of both the Meadowlands harness and thoroughbred racing surfaces and its backstretch properties. He was the track superintendent at Hoosier Park and a consultant for the 2008 Breeders Cup and Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.