Thursday, July 31 2008

SARATOGA NOTES, JULY 30, 2008

Today’s ninth race is the $80,000 Fleet Indian Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares at seven furlongs, and for the second year, it will herald the presentation of the Fleet Indian Scholarship.

Named for the Todd Pletcher-trained New York-bred champion who won eight straight races, including Saratoga’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign and Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Beldame in 2006, the scholarship was founded by Fleet Indian’s owner, Paul Saylor, to help New York students hoping to pursue a career in the Thoroughbred racing industry.

Breeders’ Stakes Notes for Wednesday, July 30

The 118th running of the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes, the third gem in Canada's Triple Crown for three-year-olds foaled in Canada, is set for Sunday, August 3, at Woodbine.

The race will be contested at 1 ½ miles (one mile and four furlongs) on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course.

Post time for the Breeders' is 5:08 p.m. The race will air live on The Score in a special presentation from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

CORVO, $18.60, CAPTURES FEATURE AT MONMOUTH

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Nicholas Picariello’s Corvo rallied on the inside in the stretch and drew of to a nearly five-length victory in the $51,000 allowance feature at Monmouth Park on Wednesday.

The winner, trained by Joseph Picariello and ridden by David Cohen, raced the one mile and 70 yards in 1:43 and paid $18.60, $8.20 and $4.40 across the board as second longest shot in the field of six.

Monmouth Park Barn Notes for Wednesday, July 30, 2008

NISTLE’S CRUNCH ARRIVES FOR SUNDAY’S HASKELL INVITATIONAL; BIG BROWN SCHEDULED TO BREEZE AT BIG A FRIDAY, ARRIVE SATURDAY

OCEANPORT, N.J. - A field of seven, topped by Big Brown, is in prospect for Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational Presented by Vonage * Big Brown is expected to breeze Friday at Aqueduct and ship to Monmouth on Saturday * Nistle’s Crunch, the only New Jersey-bred in the field, arrived at Monmouth Wednesday morning after a van ride from Kentucky * Atoned schooled in the gate with blinkers on Wednesday morning * The Haskell draw at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, will be webcast live on the Monmouth web site --- http://www.monmouthpark.com -and can be found in the “live video” section of the Racing menu.

ZAPPA COASTS HOME IN COUGAR II HANDICAP

Barber and Barber's Kentucky- bred Zappa cruised to an easy early lead and never looked back under jockey Garrett Gomez in coasting to a 6 1/4 length victory today in the $150,000 Cougar II Handicap at a mile and one-half on the main track.

The Cougar II Handicap is part of the Breeders' Cup's Win and You're In Marathon Division series of races. Thus, Zappa qualified for a spot in the $500,000 B.C. Marathon on Saturday, October 25 at Santa Anita.

Del Mar Stable Notes 7/30/8

ZENYATTA DRAWS EIGHT CHALLENGERS FOR HIRSCH HANDICAP

Undefeated Zenyatta will try to run her winning streak to seven Saturday in the Grade II, $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Handicap for fillies and mares on the main track.

Eight others are scheduled to tackle the 4-year-old filly owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss and trained by John Shirreffs in the 38th running of the 1 1/16-mile handicap. Zenyatta, winner of four straight graded stakes, is assigned high weight of 124 pounds, including Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

DAY OF VICTORY FAVORED IN GRADE III ARLINGTON OAKS

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (July 30, 2008) – Lewis Lakin’s Day of Victory, third in the $250,000 Iowa Derby when racing against male rivals last time out, faces foes of her own sex when she heads to post as the 5-2 morning line favorite in the Grade III Arlington Oaks on Saturday. The $100,000 race at a mile and an eighth for 3-year-old fillies will be ninth of 11 races on the program that starts at 1 p.m. Central time.

A daughter of Victory Gallop, Day of Victory is one for six this year with her lone seasonal score coming in allowance company at Oaklawn Park in March. Since that effort, she has been competitive in stakes competition and ran second in the $50,000 Panthers Stakes at Prairie Meadows in June. Trained by Bob Holthus, she will have the services of the meet’s leading rider Rene Douglas and will start widest of the eight fillies entered.

Arlington Million Barn Notes: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

KIRBY MULLING ‘MILLION’ FOR ‘CLOUDY’; BEVERLY D. FOR CIAO

S J Stables’ Cloudy’s Knight and Iron County Farms’ Ciao both breezed over Arlington Park’s world famous turf course Wednesday morning in increasingly probable preparation for next week’s Arlington Million and Beverly D. respectively.

Along with the 32nd running of Arlington’s Secretariat Stakes, Arlington Million XXVI and the 18th renewal of the Beverly D. will make up this summer’s one-day International Festival of Racing on Aug. 9.

Wednesday, July 30 2008

Breeders’ Stakes Facts

Breeders' Stakes Facts (From 1959, the inception of the Triple Crown)

*2008 edition set for Sunday, August 3 at Woodbine

Record purses:
$500,000 (2000-2007)
$331,933 (1989)
$325,000 (1999)
$306,000 (1990)
$304,500 (1995)

BIG BROWN LIKELY TO FACE SIX FOES IN HASKELL ON SUNDAY

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown is likely to face six foes when he ships to Monmouth Park for his date in Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational.

“If everything goes perfect, I’d like to breeze him 3/8ths on Friday (at Aqueduct) and ship down to Monmouth on Saturday,” said trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., who conditions the colt for IEAH Stables and Paul Pompa Jr. “He looks amazing. He’s shiny, he’s happy. He looks as good as he always has.”

Record 5,555 Yearlings Cataloged for Keeneland September Sale

Keeneland has cataloged a record 5,555 yearlings for its 2008 September Yearling Sale, to be held September 8-23.

Catalogs for the September Sale – the world’s premier Thoroughbred yearling auction – will be available on Keeneland’s website beginning August 5. Print catalogs will be mailed the week of August 18.

No sale will be conducted Friday, September 12. Sessions begin at 10 a.m. ET daily. Keeneland will provide live coverage of the entire 15-day auction on its website.

Walter Paisley’s back for Hawthorne’s Night of Champions

A couple of weeks ago the name of iconic driver Walter Paisley appeared on the overnight for a Qualifier. Some of us thought that it was a typo. It wasn’t.

You see, the 67-year-old “Butch” Paisley retired from active driving in 1993 with purses earned in excess of $34,000,000 and over 5,700 victories. He’s a member of the Illinois Harness Racing Hall of Fame. But, his last win in a pari-mutuel race came in 2005.