Saturday, October 04 2008

ARSON SQUAD FIRES LATE TO WIN MEADOWLANDS CUP

East Rutherford, NJ [October 3, 2008] - Arson Squad [$10.80, $4.80, $4.00] flew home late to give trainer Richard Dutrow his second straight win in the $350,000 Grade II Meadowlands Cup on Friday night.

Ridden by Edgar Prado, Arson Squad sat well off the swift early pace set by Timber Reserve and slipped through an opening in the stretch to best Anak Nakal [$6.20, $3.60] by 2 1-2 lengths in 1:48.81. It was a nose back to Timber Reserve [$3.20] in third.

Keeneland Barn Notes—Friday, October 3, 2008

CANTEEN FINDS WAY BACK TO OLD KENTUCKY HOME

One of the more intriguing entrants in Saturday’s 12th running of the $150,000 Woodford at 5 ½ furlongs on the turf is Arthur Hancock III’s Canteen.

Bred by Hancock and Stonerside Stable in Kentucky, the six-year-old son of 2000 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Fusaichi Pegasus has spent all of his 22-race career in California except for one trip east in 2005. In that race, he was sixth as a maiden in the Arkansas Derby (G2) won by Afleet Alex.

A half-brother to 1994 Kentucky Derby runner-up Strodes Creek, Canteen is now in the care of Rusty Arnold after having been in the barn of Neil Drysdale in California.

LENZINI SADDLES THREE WINNERS AT GOLDEN GATE FIELDS

ALBANY -- Trainer Michael Lenzini won three races Friday at Golden Gate Fields, including back-to-back races with horses that were the longest shot in their fields.

Lenzini won the third race with the 2-year-old filly Mean Joleene, who paid $94.60 to win after going off at odds of 46-to-1. Lenzini then captured the fourth race with the 3-year-old gelding Way Speed, who returned $17.20 as the largest price in a scratch-plagued field of four.

Lenzini complete his training hat trick when Beamer Bee ($12.40) won the eighth race. The victories were Lenzini's first at the 2008 fall meeting as he entered the card 0-for-9.

Friday, October 03 2008

DOUBLE DIP UPSET GIVES TRAINER McKAUGHAN FIRST SANTA ANITA WIN

ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 2, 2008) – Double Dip, a 13-1 outsider making her first start at Santa Anita, closed strongly on the extreme outside under jockey Joel Rosario Thursday to take Oak Tree’s optional claiming feature, a $51,082 event for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

The upset helped generate a Pick Six carryover of $62,119 into Friday’s eight-race program that begins at 1 p.m. It marked the fourth time in seven racing dates that the Pick Six had carried over during the young Oak Tree meet.

While resisting the closing bid of second-choice Comeback Queen by 1 ¼ lengths, Double Dip provided Amanda McKaughan with her first training win at Santa Anita. The chestnut filly gave jockey Rosario his second of three wins on the afternoon.

E.P. Taylor & Nearctic Previews

TORONTO, October 2 * Regardless of how Sealy Hill, Canada's 2007 Horse of the Year, fares in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million E.P. Taylor Stakes, it will be her final career start at Woodbine.

But it may not necessarily be her last outing, according to conditioner Mark Casse.

"If she runs a big race, we're looking at taking her to the Breeders' Cup (Filly and Mare Turf, October 24 at Santa Anita in California). But if she doesn't, this is going to be her last start. We're just hoping the real Sealy Hill shows up."

FILLY ROMANCE IS DIANE SET AS 5-2 FAVORITE IN CAL CUP CLASSIC

ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 2, 2008) – Four-year-old filly Romance Is Diane, a Grade I stakes winner, was established as the 5-2 favorite among eight entrants in Sunday’s $250,000 California Cup Classic presented by City National Bank, the 1 1/8 miles centerpiece of Oak Tree’s Cal Cup XIX Day, comprised of 10 stakes races exclusively for California-breds at Santa Anita.

Classic defending champion Bold Chieftain, meanwhile, was entered in the $175,000 John C. Mabee Mile on turf with trainer William Morey Jr. explaining that a grass surface presently seems more agreeable to the 5-year-old bay, a winner of three of his four most recent starts on turf.

STABLE NOTES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2ND, 2008

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR FOR CHEROOT, WHO MAKES 4TH TRY IN CAL CUP CLASSIC

When it comes to the California Cup Classic, Cheroot deserves an “E” for effort.

The 7-year-old Smokester horse trained by Darrell Vienna is scheduled to make his fourth start in California Cup XIX’s marquee event Sunday presented by the Oak Tree Racing Association. This time, Vienna and owner Charlotte Wrather of Los Alamos hope the speedy veteran’s performance will bring them to the winners’ circle.

Cheroot drew the No. 8 outside stall at Thursday’s California Cup draw breakfast at Clockers’ Corner and was listed at 6-1 in oddsmaker Jeff Tufts’ morning line for the 1 1/8-mile event.

TWO-YEAR-OLDS + TALENT + LUCK = WIN AND YOU’RE IN

There are those who would rather be lucky than good, but Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel doesn’t subscribe to that theory – at least as far as Vineyard Haven is concerned. In a race that had more trouble lines than a country-western song, the two-year-old son of Lido Palace proved to be both lucky and good in winning the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course.

“He’s a good horse,” said Frankel of Vineyard Haven, one of only two horses in the eight-horse field to have a trouble-free trip en route to his front-running, 2 ¼-length victory. “I hope he’s a very good horse.”

Actin Good returned from a five-month layoff to race in the Grade 3 Iselin on Aug. 16 at Monmouth Pa

It has been a strange journey so far for IEAH Stables and WinStar Farm’s Court Vision, and he is still only a three-year-old.

Winner of Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Remsen last November, he embarked on the Kentucky Derby trail in February with a pair of third-place finishes in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Aqueduct’s Grade 1 Wood Memorial. He then ran 13th in the Kentucky Derby after a troubled trip and was given time off.

Returning at the end of May, the Gulch colt showed interest in his turf debut at Colonial Downs and followed that effort with a nose loss to Gio Ponti in the Grade 2 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs, also on the grass.

ACTIN GOOD READY FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE IN MEADOWLANDS CUP

Actin Good put on a gutsy front-end performance to win the Grade III Pegasus on Breeders' Cup Day at Monmouth Park last October, but trainer Bobby Dibona feels the gelding's best effort is yet to come.

The trainer has high hopes for Actin Good in the $350,000 Grade II Meadowlands Cup on Friday night. The 4-year-old gelding is rated 8-1 on the early line in the 1 1-8 mile race. The competitors he will face include Pennsylvania Derby winner Anak Nakal and Belmont victor Da'Tara.

"I think we have a better horse now [as compared to last year before the Pegasus]," Dibona. "He's much more relaxed and settles down real nice for me now. He's training good, real solid."

Keeneland Barn Notes—Thursday, October 2, 2008

LITTLE BELLE TAKES ON ELDERS IN 53RD JUDDMONTE SPINSTER

Godolphin Racing’s Little Belle, winner of this spring’s Ashland Stakes (G1), will be the lone three-year-old challenging a field of 10 other older fillies and mares in Sunday’s 53rd running of the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.

The Spinster is part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge that will earn the winner a spot in the starting gate October 24 at Santa Anita for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (G1).

NOR CAL HORSES HIT ROAD FOR RICH STAKES THIS WEEKEND

Several Golden Gate Fields-based horses will compete in rich stakes races on the road this weekend and Northern California racing fans will be able to follow the local runners via simulcast.

The outstanding 3-year-old filly Indyanne is in Lexington, Kentucky, where she'll contest the $300,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland. A six-furlong dash for fillies and mares, the Thoroughbred Club of America is a "Win and You're In" event for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, which will be run Oct. 24 at Santa Anita.

Indyanne, trained by Greg Gilchrist and owned by David and Jill Heerensperger, won her first four starts before running a troubled second in the Victory Ride Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23. She'll break from the rail in the Thoroughbred Club of America and be ridden by Robby Albarado.