Saturday, September 20 2008

Kentucky Cup Day of Champions nominations released

FLORENCE, KY . . . September 19, 2008 . . . Nominations for the five stakes races that make up the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions at Turfway Park were released today, with 25 nominated to the $350,000 Classic (G2), the series’ centerpiece. The Kentucky Cup Day of Champions, scheduled for Saturday, September 27, is designed to prep horses for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on October 24-25.

The Kentucky Cup series holds particular interest for Breeders’ Cup hopefuls this year. With the Breeders’ Cup to be contested over the all-weather Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita Park, a test over Turfway’s all-weather Polytrack could help sort who goes to California and who goes elsewhere.

ALBERTUS MAXIMUS RUNS FOR NEW TRAINER IN GOODWOOD

Vladimir Cerin hopes to use the Grade I Goodwood Stakes as a steppingstone to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic for a new horse in his barn, Albertus Maximus.

“I got him the end of July,” the trainer said. “The owners just made a change, and actually, I’ve never met them. I talked to them on the phone a couple times, but I’ve never met them. The horse has been training super since I got him.”

Previously trained by Gary Mandella, Albertus Maximus is a 4-year-old son of Albert the Great owned and bred by Brandon and Marianne Chase of Los Angeles.

RE-START FOR REREADTHEFOOTNOTES IN BONGARD

The continuing success of the New York Breeding & Racing Program and the support it has received from the New York Racing Association has given many owners, breeders and trainers a chance at recouping their investments in racing.

That is why it surprised trainer Kiaran McLaughlin when a state-bred race at Saratoga he had pointed for did not go, and he was forced to send Rereadthefootnotes to Monmouth Park for the Grade 3 Sapling.

“It’s not unusual for an `a other than’ not to go and you have to step your horse up in company,” McLaughlin said. “But this was a $100,000 race, so it was really surprising that it didn’t go. Rereadthefootnotes was ready to run, so I had no choice but to run him at Monmouth.”

TEMBISA TAKES FRIDAY ALLOWANCE FEATURE

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- In the six-furlong first-level allowance feature, Castletop Stable’s Tembisa and leading rider Jose Lezcano held off the late challenge of Angelonmyshoulder to win by one length.

Tembisa, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Johannesburg out of Varnish-Cox’s Ridge, earned her second straight win. She broke her maiden over the Monmouth strip two weeks ago. Ed Plesa Jr. trains the filly.

Tembisa covered six furlongs in 1:11 2/5 and paid $4.40, $2.60, $2.40 across the board as the 6-5 favorite. She topped a $25 exacta with Angelonmyshoulder. Dance of Jewels finished third. The trifecta returned $54.70 for a $1 wager.

Bernstein Colt Highlights Friday Session Of Keeneland September Sale

Lexington, KY (September 19, 2008) – Friday’s session of Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale was highlighted by the sale of a Bernstein colt for $195,000 to Gulf Coast Farm.

Consigned by Buck Pond Farm (Douglas S. Arnold), agent, the colt is out of the Carson City mare Sparkler, and from the family of graded stakes winners Softly, Coragil Cat and Til Forbid.

On Friday, Keeneland sold 276 horses for $6,203,400, down 25.6 percent from a year ago when 289 horses brought $8,332,500. Average price for the day of $22,476 was down 22 percent from last year’s comparable session average of $28,832. The median price of $15,000 was down 25 percent from the $20,000 posted in 2007.

WILD PROMISES GUNS FOR FOURTH TRAIGHT STAKES VICTORY

ALBANY -- Wild Promises will gun for her fourth consecutive stakes victory Saturday when she takes on eight opponents in the $75,000 Miss America Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

Wild Promises is a 9-to-5 favorite on the morning line to capture the Miss America, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares. Wild Promises will break from post position four and be ridden by David Lopez.

Trained by Greg Gilchrist, Wild Promises recorded her first stakes victory last May on the turf at Bay Meadows when she won the Mother's Day Handicap by a neck over Unspoken Word. She followed up that triumph with a front-running victory in the Yerba Buena Stakes on the Golden Gate Fields turf and then ran away to a six-length score in the Luther Burbank Handicap on the Santa Rosa turf.

Friday, September 19 2008

71st Pattison Canadian International nominees announced

TORONTO, September 19, 2008 - Woodbine Entertainment Group today announced a world-class group of 25 nominees for the Pattison Canadian International, recognized as one of the world's great horse races, on Saturday, October 4 at Woodbine.

The Pattison Canadian International is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and features a "Win and You're In" guarantee.

A victory in the 1 ½-mile race, which takes place over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, earns the victor a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf, set for October 25 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

ECLIPSE AWARDS TO TAKE PLACE JANUARY 26 IN MIAMI

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced today the 2008 Eclipse Awards ceremony will be held January 26, 2009, at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The event will mark the first Eclipse Awards to be held in Florida since the 2003 ceremony, which was held in January 2004 in Hollywood, Fla. For the last four years, the Eclipse Awards have been presented in Beverly Hills, Calif., and they will return there in January 2010. The Eclipse Awards are presented by the NTRA, the National Turf Writers Association (NTWA) and Daily Racing Form (DRF) in recognition of excellence in Thoroughbred racing.

"The Eclipse Awards return to Florida after a strong, four-year run in southern California," said Keith Chamblin, Senior Vice President of the NTRA. "The newly remodeled Fontainebleau Miami Beach will be a memorable venue at which to celebrate our 2008 Eclipse Champions."

Monmouth Park Barn Notes for Friday, Sept. 19, 2008

COSTA SENDS OUT VERSATILE JOHN’S PIC IN LINCROFT HANDICAP

OCEANPORT, N.J. * John’s Pic, the 5-year-old gelding trained by Frank Costa, logged his final exercise before running in tomorrow’s Lincroft Handicap * Jenny Bean Girl makes her third straight appearance in the Jersey Girl Handicap in a long, successful career.

Frank Costa was in an anticipatory mood Friday morning on the backstretch, as he prepares to send out his speedy 5-year-old gelding, John’s Pic, in the $75,000 Lincroft Handicap tomorrow. John’s Pic, an earner of nearly $350,000, will meet Who’s the Cowboy and three other horses in the Lincroft.

STEEPLECHASERS RETURN TO JERSEY SHORE

The National Steeplechase Association returns to Monmouth Park Saturday for the Grade II Monmouth County Hunt Novice Stakes. Absent since 2004, the jump set heads to the Oceanport, N.J., track for the newly minted $75,000 affair. Restricted to those who have not won over hurdles prior to May 1, 2007, the 2 1/4-mile stakes features divisional leaders Be Certain and The Price Of Love.

The race will be the sixth on the day, with a 3:10 p.m. post time.

JIM MCKAY’s MARYLAND MILLION DAY

TIMONIUM, MD – September 19, 2008---Delegate Sandy Rosenberg (D) District 41, is planning to propose to the Maryland Legislature that, with a joint resolution, Jim McKay’s legendary sports name is to be officially adopted by Maryland Million Ltd.’s Board of Directors for the annual racing program for Maryland-sired horses. The announcement was made this morning at a news conference at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Jim McKay, who was the founder and primary standard bearer for the event, was chairman up until the time of his death in June of this year. “He was a great ambassador for the state of Maryland and his contributions to the horse breeding and racing community are celebrated annually on Maryland Million Day,” said Delegate Rosenberg. “I believe that adding his name to the event is a fitting honor.”

Star-Studded list of Nominees for 72nd Hawthorne Gold Cup

Nominations are complete for the Gold Cup, no, not the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but the venerable Grade 2, $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup, which will be run on Saturday, September 27. The 72nd edition of Hawthorne’s signature fall race has 20 nominees, including defending champion Student Council, and last year’s third place finisher, A.P. Arrow.

Who actually races in the one-mile and one-quarter dirt race will be determined next week, but the quality of the field may shape up to be first rate.

Trainer Steve Asmussen may not have nominated Curlin (you can find him in that other ‘Gold Cup’), but he has graded winners Magna Graduate and Zanjero on the list of possible starters, in addition to the aforementioned Student Council.