Thursday, August 14 2008

PARADISE TONIGHT CAPTURES FEATURE AT MONMOUTH

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Paradise Tonight stalked the pace until midstretch, and then turned on the speed to win Wednesday’s $41,000 allowance feature for fillies and mares by four lengths at Monmouth Park.

The winner, trained by Joe Pierce Jr. and ridden by Eddie Castro, stepped the one mile and 70 yards in 1:42 4/5 over the fast main track and paid $6, $2.80 and $2.20 across the board as second choice in the field of six.

GOTTCHA GOLD NEEDS TO STEP UP IN ISELIN REPEAT TRY

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Gottcha Gold comes into Saturday’s $300,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes off three straight losses and gets a new rider in Elvis Trujillo as he seeks a repeat victory in the Grade 3 event * Tickets for Saturday’s wine tasting and luncheon are still available at $75 each.

This has been a different year for Gottcha Gold, and not in a good way so far. Last year, the son of Coronado’s Quest caught some breaks and captured his first graded stakes, with victories in both the Salvator Mile (G3) and Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3). He finished the 2007 season with a second in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

GET FUNKY WINS GREEN FLASH ‘CAP

Keith Abrahams' Get Funky, winner of the 2006 Del Mar Derby at nine furlongs on the grass, continued to succeed in his new role as a turf sprinter with a game victory in Wednesday's featured $90,220 Green Flash Handicap over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Scoring his fourth triumph in as many starts sprinting on the grass, Get Funky sliced between horses in the final sixteenth under deft handling by jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., winning by a half-length over the 6-5 favorite Idiot Proof.

Del Mar Stable Notes 8/13/8

McCANN'S MOJAVE COMMITTED TO PACIFIC CLASSIC; SURF CAT WORKS; STUDENT COUNCIL ON HIS WAY TO DEFEND TITLE

Owner Mike Willman put McCann's Mojave officially in the mix Tuesday for Del Mar's Grade I, $1-million Pacific Classic Sunday, August 24 at 1 ¼ miles on the main track.

The announcement came two days after the 8-year-old son of Memo put in a sizzling 6-furlong work in 1:10.60 at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California. The horse, who has posted career earnings of $1.5 million, is trained by Steve Specht and was fourth in the Hollywood Gold Cup in his most recent start. He's scheduled to work one more time -- one mile at Golden Gate Fields Saturday -- and ship to Del Mar on Monday.

Arlington Park Barn Notes: Wed., Aug. 13

PREPARING FOR PUCKER UP – ‘LIZ’ LOVING TURF WEDNESDAY

Frank Calabrese’s Dreaming of Liz, winner of last fall’s Grade III Arlington-Washington Lassie and runner-up in this month’s Grade III Arlington Oaks – both on Polytrack – breezed five-eighths in 1:02.60 over Arlington Park’s world famous turf course Wednesday morning in probable preparation for the Grade III Pucker Up Stakes Sept. 6.

Jockey Junior Alvarado was aboard for Wednesday’s breeze, and galloped out the daughter of El Prado out of Silver Maiden in 1:15.60 for three-quarters.

Wednesday, August 13 2008

JACKSON INVITES BIG BROWN TO RACE CURLIN AT THE WOODWARD STAKES

LEXINGTON, KY (August 13, 2008) – Jess Jackson, majority owner of Curlin, 2007 Horse of the Year, invites Big Brown to race Curlin in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York on Saturday, August 30, 2008. Jackson has committed to donate $50,000 from the Jackson Curlin for Kids Fund to the non-profit Belmont Child Care Association, Anna House, if Big Brown, winner of the 2008 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Haskell and Florida Derby, accepts the invitation.

“Big Brown’s camp recent remarks about Curlin inspired me to offer an incentive to get these two great horses to race at the legendary track at the Spa,” said Jackson. “Both horses are eligible for this race and both have plenty of time to prepare for what would be thoroughbred racing at its very best and in the name of a great cause.”

Keeneland to Donate Copies of Beyond the Track to Thoroughbred Adoption Groups

Lexington, KY (August 12, 2008) – Keeneland will donate copies of Anna Morgan Ford’s book, Beyond the Track: Retraining the Thoroughbred from Racehorse to Riding Horse, to nonprofit organizations around the country whose mission is to find adoptive homes for retired Thoroughbreds. These organizations will in turn provide free copies of the manual to individuals who adopt a Thoroughbred from their group.

Beyond the Track is a comprehensive guide which covers a range of practical topics, supported by instructive photographs, unique to Thoroughbreds. Among the subjects Ford addresses are finding the right horse to adopt, dealing with soundness or health issues, feeding and care after the racetrack, proper equipment, and step-by-step techniques for retraining a former racehorse.

UNDEFEATED FILLY HIGH RESOLVE RACES WEDNESDAY AT THE FAIR

SAN MATEO -- The undefeated filly High Resolve will seek her sixth career victory Wednesday when she competes in the second race at the San Mateo County Fair at Bay Meadows.

Post time is 1:45 p.m. for Wednesday's card, which kicks off the final five days of horse racing at historic Bay Meadows. The track, which opened in 1934, will close for good following Sunday's program and the property will be redeveloped.

Tuesday, August 12 2008

RUN AWAY AND HIDE HAS THAT “SPECIAL” SOMETHING

How many two-year-old races has trainer Ronny Werner won with this philosophy?

“I think when a horse lays down all day, you just can’t beat that,” said Werner, the 48-year-old trainer known for his winning ways with young horses. “It’s a great characteristic.”

So when Run Away and Hide arrived in Werner’s barn in Kentucky this spring, the trainer was delighted when the two-year-old bay colt promptly stretched out in his stall for a lengthy nap.

BREEN TRYING TO MAKE A ‘BOLD’ PRESENCE IN ADIRONDACK

Two years ago, after upending favored Octave with 24-1 shot Desire to Excel in the Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park, Kelly Breen came to Saratoga Race Course and almost pulled off another upset in the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes with 30-1 shot True Addiction, who finished second.

Wednesday, Breen returns to Saratoga with the undefeated Bold Union, who is anything but a longshot among the eight two-year-old fillies going in the 92nd running $150,000 Adirondack Stakes.

UNCOOPERATIVE WEATHER FOR SARATOGA WEEK THREE

Severe thunderstorms, heavy rain, and nearly continuous inclement conditions, with only one glorious, rain-free Saturday, played havoc on attendance and handle figures during Week Three of the 2008 Saratoga Race Course meeting, according to the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA).

The uncooperative weather was punctuated by a deluge which washed out part of the main track and forced the cancellation of eight races on Friday, August 8th.

SARATOGA RAC COURSE NOTES, Aug. 11, 1980; CURLN WORKS

SARATOGA RACE COURSE NOTES

Trainer Steve Asmussen called an audible early Monday morning, switching 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin’s scheduled workout from Saratoga Race Course’s main track to the Oklahoma training track because of overnight rains.

“Mother Nature said, ‘Not today’,” said the trainer, who apparently made the right call as rain again hit the area a few hours after the work.

With regular exercise rider Carmen Rosas aboard, the four-year-old chestnut went out in the second set after the first break, working three-quarters in 1:14.67 over the muddy training track in company with stablemate Hawaii Calls as he prepares for the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward at nine furlongs at Saratoga Race Course on August 30.