LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kenny McPeek probably could have suspected major drama was in store for him at the Churchill Downs fall meet that ended Sunday, but that’s par for the course, given the up-and-down nature of the racing business.
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DEL MAR, Calif. - Mopotism was fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, and Sunday’s Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Del Mar will offer her little class relief.
The Matriarch Stakes is the leading race on the final day of the track’s autumn meeting and is expected to draw a field befitting its status and prize money.
DEL MAR, Calif. - At the start of the Del Mar summer meeting, Desert Stone was coming off maiden and optional-claiming victories, and appeared poised to play a leading role in the 3-year-old turf division in California. That projection may have been a few months off.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Peter Miller won seven races at Del Mar last week, leaving him four clear of his closest pursuer with four days left in the autumn meeting. Miller has won 12 races and Jerry Hollendorfer eight races at the meet, which ends Sunday.
Miller said at his Del Mar stable on Sunday morning that he expects to be active during closing week.
“If the races go, we might have quite a few starters,” he said.
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Frank Mirahmadi will replace Michael Wrona as the track announcer at Santa Anita, the track announced in a press releases on Monday.
Mirahmadi, 51, a native of Southern California, is currently calling races at Aqueduct. He also has been the main race-caller at Golden Gate Fields, Hialeah, Monmouth Park, and Oaklawn Park during his career, and has called races at numerous other tracks. He also has worked as an on-air analyst at TVG, doing extensive handicapping.
From Fair Grounds to Del Mar, it was quite a Thanksgiving weekend for trainer Mike Stidham.
In New Orleans, Stidham between Thursday and Saturday went 5-3-1 from 13 starters, winning three allowance races Friday and getting a very encouraging dirt-route maiden win Saturday from a 2-year-old colt named Tackett.
At Del Mar on Saturday, the 2-year-old filly Elsa won the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes over one mile on turf, while Synchrony finished third as quite possibly the best horse in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor won Grade 2 stakes on consecutive days over the holiday weekend at Del Mar with Chicago Style in the Hollywood Turf Cup on Friday and Caribou Club in the Seabiscuit Handicap on Saturday.
Jockey Martin Bourdieu broke his leg and several ribs and sustained two punctured lungs in a spill at Turf Paradise on Saturday.
The 44-year-old rider was piloting Starz Decoy in a 300-yard Quarter Horse allowance race. He was in traffic when his mount clipped the heels of Matts Corona, unseating Bourdieu. He was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent surgery for a broken femur. According to track officials, he may require surgery on his lungs and ribs.
The two horses involved were uninjured.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Lady Paname, the half-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Long Island Stakes, will likely get a freshening and be aimed at a 5-year-old campaign in 2019, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday morning.
Lady Paname, who was making just her second start of the year, rallied from midpack under Irad Ortiz Jr. to beat Tricky Escape in the Long Island. She ran 1 3/8 miles in 2:16.15 and earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.