Saturday, September 13 2008

BIG BROWN FAVORED OVER 10 OLDER RIVALS IN SATURDAY’S

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Big Brown, who has just about locked up the 3-year-old title with his four Grade 1 victories this year, will be thoroughly tested Saturday when he meets older horses for the first time in the inaugural running of the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes Presented by IEAH Stables.

A field of 11 was entered for the mile and an eighth turf test, which goes as the ninth event on a 10-race program with a probable post time of 4:48 p.m. The Monmouth Stakes will be televised on TVG, with the special program starting at 4:30 p.m.

Big Brown, who will be racing on grass for the first time since he broke his maiden at Saratoga last year, goes from Post 4 with regular rider Kent Desormeaux in the irons. He was installed the 2-1 morning line favorite by Monmouth handicapper Brad Thomas.

CALDER RACE COURSE TO REDUCE PURSES FOR OVERNIGHT RACES AND STAKES RACES

Calder Race Course (“Calder”) announced today that due to lower than anticipated business levels, the racetrack is reducing overnight purses by 17 percent, effective with the Thursday, Sept. 18, card. The reductions will affect most races, although overnight stakes will retain their $55,000 level. Several stakes races during both the Calder Meet and Tropical Meet will also be affected.

“A number of factors require that these reductions be made,” said Kevin Flanery, senior vice president of Churchill Downs Incorporated, Calder’s parent company. “Calder has not fully recovered from the two and a half months at the beginning of the season when its signal was not allowed to be simulcast out of state. In addition, Calder racing has not been available through advance deposit wagering platforms, such as TwinSpires.com, since the season began on April 21 due to an ongoing dispute with the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group.”

Arlington Park Barn Notes: Sept. 12

INVESTOR IN SEARCH OF ARLINGTON-WASHINGTON FUTURITY RICHES

Churchill Downs television paddock hostess Jill Byrne was faced with something of a conundrum when her husband Pat’s trainee Investor first appeared in the Twin Spires paddock in advance of his career debut July 5.

“I’m supposed to be an impartial observer,” said Mrs. Byrne over the phone Friday morning when recalling that day, “but with 2-year-olds making their first starts there’s just not that much to say. So you have to talk about how the horses look in the paddock and which ones look nervous. I looked over at Pat’s horse and he wasn’t nervous at all – and quite frankly he was also the best looking horse in the paddock. You look for little quirks with the young horses, but this horse’s quirks are that he has no quirks.”

Friday, September 12 2008

$1.1 Million Medgalia d’Oro Filly Highlights Thursday Session of Keeneland September Sale

A half-sister by Medaglia d’Oro to Group 2 winner King of Rome sparked a bidding war that in the end produced Thursday’s $1.1 million sale topper at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale.

Newmarket-based trainer Paul D’Arcy signed the ticket for the filly on behalf of London surgeon Dr. Karen Sanderson. Consigned by Tom Evans’ Trackside Farm, agent for Liberation Farm, the filly is out of the Forty Niner mare Amizette, and from the family of champion Althea and stakes winners Twining, Ali Oop and Ketoh. Her half-brother, King of Rome, by Montjeu (IRE), won the Group 2 Royal Whip Stakes at Leopardstown in August for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

Thursday, September 11 2008

YOUNGSTERS GET A CHANCE TO SHINE IN FUTURITY, MATRON

Many promising two-year-olds debut at Saratoga Race Course, but it is at Belmont Park’s Fall Championship meet that racing’s future stars distinguish themselves. Horses such as Man o’War, Bold Ruler, Affirmed and Forty Niner made their presence known in the Futurity, while its filly counterpart, the Matron, has showcased such luminaries as Storm Flag Flying, Before Dawn, Cicada, and Beaugay early in their careers.

Saturday, a field of seven colts looks to take a step toward stardom when the Grade 2, $250,000 Futurity is run for the 119th time, while nine fillies go postward in the 102nd edition of the Grade 2, $250,000 Matron, both at seven furlongs.

`LITTLE FISH’ AWESOME I AM GOES AFTER BIG ONE IN GAZELLE

Even if the field was larger, Godolphin Stable’s Music Note would still be a standout in Saturday’s 113th running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Gazelle for three-year-old fillies at nine furlongs.

Not only is Music Note battle-tested – Music Note comes in off a thrilling head loss to archrival Proud Spell in the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga Race Course on August 16 – but the A.P. Indy filly is back at Belmont Park, where she has won three of four career starts, including Grade 1 victories in the nine-furlong Mother Goose and the Coaching Club American Oaks at a mile and a quarter.

After the Applause tries turf in Natalma

TORONTO, September 11 - Trainer Nicholas Gonzalez will attempt to net his meet-leading ninth stakes win of the 2008 Woodbine campaign in Sunday's $150,000 Natalma Stakes.

The Fort Erie resident will saddle After the Applause in the Grade 3 event, which, as a 'Win and You're In' race, guarantees a berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.

Bred in Kentucky by Hal Snowden, Jr., After the Applause began her career in South Florida, in the barn of Stephen DiMauro.

Jessluvchicks favored in Quarter Horse Sprint

Multiple stakes winner Jessluvchicks is the 8-5 morning line favorite for the $25,000 John Deere Turfway Park Sprint Stakes at Turfway on Friday, September 12. The race marks the national debut for racing American Quarter Horses on Polytrack. The sprint is carded as race 11, with post time at 11:21 p.m. First post Friday is 7 pm.

Jessluvchicks will break from the outside post 10, with regular rider Harold Collins up for trainer Ron Raper and owner Jeannette Hoover. A six-year-old gelding by Chicks Beduino, Jessluvchicks has five wins in his last six starts, including the John Deere Lexington Challenge Sprint Stakes at The Red Mile July 18 and the Don Boyd Memorial Handicap, also part of the John Deere Series, at Mt. Pleasant Meadows in Michigan on July 6.

Big Brown Draw Post 4, Meets 10 Older Runners in Saturday’’s $500,000 Monmouth Stakes on Gras

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Big Brown, winner of four Grade 1 races this year including the Haskell Invitational and undisputed leader of the 3-year-old division, drew Post 4 Thursday as a field of 11 was entered for Saturday’s inaugural running of the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes Presented by IEAH Stables.

Big Brown, owned by IEAH Stables in partnership with Paul Pompa Jr.,Gary Tolchin, Andrew Cohen and Pegasus Holdings Group, will carry 120 pounds as a 3-year-old racing against older horses. He will be ridden again by Kent Desormeaux, who has been aboard in all of the colt’s seven lifetime races except the first last September at Saratoga, when Big Brown broke his maiden on turf.

TWO-YEAR-OLDS TO TEST LAUREL PARK TURF IN OLIVER’S TWIST STAKES

Put up $50,000, scramble in some precocious 2-year-olds, set the distance at 5-1/2 furlongs and the result is Saturday’s feature offering at Laurel Park, the grassy Oliver’s Twist Stakes.

Mike Trombetta trains undefeated Peace Town, the 9-5 morning line favorite. Peace Town won his debut race by eight lengths at Delaware Park in mid-June, and then on August 14 at Laurel stumbled from the gate in his second career start only to rally to win by three-parts of a length. Julian Pimentel is named to ride.

Arlington Park Barn Notes: Sept. 11

SWEET DREAMS WISHED FOR ‘CANDYMAN’ IN SATURDAY’S FUTURITY

Can Joseph Rauch and David Zell’s Capt. Candyman Can justify his 5-2 morning line favoritism in Saturday’s Grade III Arlington-Washington Futurity?

Dr. Rauch, 65, an emergency physician living in Umatilla, Florida, who has dabbled in Thoroughbred ownership since graduating from medical school, is keeping his fingers crossed.

Capt. Candyman Can has only run once, and wasn’t expected to do much in that race. He went to the post at nearly 20-1 in that Saratoga start on Aug. 13, and Rauch stayed in Florida to watch the race on TVG.

Mr. Greeley Colt Sells for $875,000 During Strong Wednesday Session

A colt by Mr. Greeley brought a final bid of $875,000 from Zayat Stables to top a strong third day of selling at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale.

The colt is the first foal from the unraced Old Trieste mare Chinoe Road. Chinoe Road is out of 1987 champion juvenile filly Epitome and a half-sister to stakes winners Essence of Dubai and Danjur. The colt was consigned by Gainesway, agent.

“He is a beautiful horse; he looked exactly like his father,” said Sobhy Sonbol, racing manager for Ahmed Zayat.