Saturday, August 02 2008

Arlington International Festival of Racing Barn Notes: Aug. 1

ARLINGTON ANNOUNCES $250,000 GUARANTEED FESTIVAL PICK 3 POOL

With the prospective field sizes for Chicago’s upcoming Arlington Million, $750,000 Beverly D. and $400,000 Secretariat Stakes all expanding over the last 48 hours, Arlington Park has announced that there will be a $250,000 guaranteed pool for an International Festival Pick 3 encompassing Illinois’ only three annually-contested Grade I events.

Arlington’s one-day International Festival of Racing, centerpiece event of Chicago’s Thoroughbred racing season that attracts horses from all over the world, is quickly approaching on the second Saturday in August.

Friday, August 01 2008

Saratoga Race Course to Commemorate 140th Season of Racing with Day-Long Celebration at the Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Saratoga Race Course will celebrate the history, culture and tradition of thoroughbred racing at the Spa with a day-long special event in honor of Saratoga’s 140th meeting, Saturday, August 9.

“Tradition Turns 140” will highlight nearly a century and a half worth of history which has earned Saratoga Race Course the title of one of the nation’s top ten sports venues.

“THE FRANCHISE HORSE” RETURNS TO SPA IN THE TEST

When they talk about Indian Blessing around trainer Bob Baffert’s barn, they don’t always call the Eclipse award-winning filly by name.

Sometimes they simply call her “The Franchise Horse.”

“She has been a blessing,” said Baffert of Indian Blessing, who heads a field of six for Saturday’s 83rd running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Test for three-year-old fillies. “She’s been so good to us all along. Around the barn she’s a real sweetheart, but when she gets on the track she has that competitive edge.”

Del Mar Stable Notes 7/31/8

MOOD QUIET BUT APPRECIATIVE AS POST-LAVA MAN ERA BEGINS

Two key men in Doug O'Neill's Del Mar barn were saddened by the announcement that 2006 Pacific Classic champion and earner of $5.2 million Lava Man won't be coming to the barn anymore.

The 7-year-old was retired officially Wednesday after tests at Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center showed that wear and tear on the gelding's ankles was enough to stop him from running again. Steve Kenly of STD Racing Stable, co-owner with Jason Wood, made the announcement.

Thursday, July 31 2008

A field of 10 set for Breeders’ Stakes

TORONTO, July 31 - Solitaire, third in the Queen's Plate, and the improving Sligovitz, highlight a wide-open edition of the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes, Sunday at Woodbine.

A field of 10 is set for the 1 1/2-mile turf race, third jewel in Canada's Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, which will go postward at 5:08 pm, with The Score airing a special one-hour telecast nationally across Canada from 4:30 - 5:30 pm ET.

A fresh challenger in the Valid Video will be Devil Eleven Stable’s Go Go Shoot with jockey Ariel

OCEANPORT, N.J. *Big Brown, winner of two-thirds of the Triple Crown, drew Post 4 and was installed the odds-on favorite as a field of seven 3-year-olds was entered Thursday for Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational Presented by Vonage, centerpiece of Monmouth’s summer meeting.

Big Brown, who was unbeaten in five races before he was pulled up in the Belmont Stakes on June 7, will try to get back on the right track in this 41st running of the mile and an eighth Haskell, and Monmouth oddsmaker Brad Thomas has made him the 1-2 morning line favorite to resume his winning ways.

Hypocrite Gets Class Break in Valid Video Overnight

Jacqueline Tortora and Toni and Richard Ancona’s homebred 3-year-old colt Hypocrite ran a very good race to finish fourth in the $250,000 Carry Back Stakes (G2) on ‘Summit of Speed’ day at Calder Race Course on July 12; beaten only 2 ½ lengths for it all by Golden Spikes as a 28-to-1 longshot; and comes back as the probable favorite in Saturday’s $55,000 Valid Video overnight stakes.

Jockey Manoel Cruz will be aboard Hypocrite for trainer Manny Tortora in Saturday’s 6 1/2-furlong test, facing eight rivals his own age. A son of Outofthebox, Hypocrite was a sharp winner of an allowance race over the same distance as the Valid Video on June 28 prior to the Carry Back in his first start since finishing third in the Foolish Pleasure Stakes here in September.

Joffe’s Run a Standout in Regal Gal Overnight

Andrew Rosen’s 3-year-old filly Joffe’s Run romped home an 11-length winner of the Sweettrickydancer overnight stakes going a mile on the main track on July 5 in her last start after that race was forced off turf, and comes back over the same track and distance as a likely odds-on choice in Saturday’s $55,000 Regal Gal overnight stakes.

Jockey Jermaine Bridgmohan gets a return call on Joffe’s Run for trainer Marty Wolfson as she faces five rivals her own age. A chestnut daughter of Giant’s Causeway, Joffe’s Run raced in England last year with trainer Brian Meehan before coming to the U.S. to finish 10th over a ‘yielding’ course in the Epitome Breeders’ Cup at Monmouth Park in late October.

Georgia Juvenile Filly Turf Dash One of Three Stakes Saturday at Calder

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (July 31, 2008) – The $75,000 Georgia Juvenile Filly Turf Dash to be run Saturday at Calder Race Course drew a wide-open field of 10, including two first-time starters and two other maidens that can’t be discounted. The race leads a trio of stakes to be run on the 12-race program, followed by editions of the $55,000 Regal Gal overnight and the $55,000 Valid Video overnight.

Raymond Feldman and co-owner-breeder-trainer Wesley Ward’s My Sweet Natalie and Joel Kligman’s Jungle Jill will be among the choices in the five-furlong Georgia Juvenile Filly Turf Dash with jockeys Paco Lopez and Ariel Smith aboard, respectively.

ADD TWO MARES TO BEVERLY D.’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Arlington’s Grade I Beverly D. Stakes, the Arlington Million’s sister race restricted to fillies and mares but also run along with the Grade I Secretariat Stakes on Arlington Million Day, had two late names added to its probable field size late Wednesday.

Irish-bred Rosinka, owned by The Lavington Stud and trained by Graham Motion, was third in Delaware Park’s Grade III Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes July 12 after winning Delaware’s $75,000 John W. Rooney Memorial on June 7.

SECRETARIAT STAKES FIELD SIZE SWELLING SUDDENLY

Like sudden storm clouds in a Chicago summer, the field size for Arlington’s Grade I Secretariat Stakes Aug. 9 has taken on dramatic new dimensions this week.

The $400,000 Secretariat, restricted to 3-year-olds of international caliber, will be contested along with the Arlington Million and $750,000 Beverly D. as one of three Grade I races to make up Arlington’s International Festival of Racing nine days away, but the grass race for sophomores which also serves as the final leg of Arlington’s Mid-America Triple is now attracting late interest from numerous horsemen based in the Midwest.

VON HEMEL TAKES ANOTHER STAB AT HONORABLE MISS

Last summer, trainer Kelly Von Hemel ran his first horse at Saratoga Race Course.

Naturally, the Spa’s history and standing as racing’s premier meet was not lost on Von Hemel, who is based at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, located about five miles from Des Moines. When he ran fourth in the Honorable Miss with Miss Macy Sue, Von Hemel knew he would love to come back for another chance at the Spa.