LOUISVILLE, Ky. – C Z Rocket could make his next start in the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita after staying unbeaten in three career starts with a two-length victory in a one-mile, second-level allowance Thursday at Churchill.
Trainer Al Stall Jr. said “we’re considering” the seven-furlong Malibu after C Z Rocket, racing closer to the early pace than in his two prior starts, outkicked J Boys Echo down the stretch to earn a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – They’ll scatter like dust in the wind when the Churchill Downs lights are dimmed following the 12th race Sunday. Horsemen and other racetrack affiliates with Florida, Louisiana, or Arkansas as their next stop will pack their bags in an end-of-November ritual long familiar in these parts.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainers Kiaran McLaughlin and Todd Pletcher have combined to win the last three runnings of the Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct, and horses from those two barns comprise half the field in Saturday’s modest renewal of the Grade 3, $250,000 race for 3-year-old males at Aqueduct.
McLaughlin, who won last year’s Discovery with Sticksstatelydude, on Saturday will send out the uncoupled pair of Spieth and True Timber, while Pletcher, who won this race in 2014 with Protonico and 2015 with Tommy Macho, sends out Bonus Points in the six-horse field.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Disco Partner, beaten just a half-length when third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 4 at Del Mar, was held out of Saturday’s inaugural running of the $125,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship. He will be given a freshening and pointed to a 2018 campaign that could include the Dubai Turf Sprint, according to trainer Christophe Clement.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – My Impression, Elysea’s World, and Penjade, the second- third-, and fourth-place finishers from the Grade 3 Athenia on Oct. 28 at Belmont, are three of the seven fillies and mares entered in the $150,000 Forever Together Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct.
My Impression, trained by Shug McGaughey, was beaten a neck by Off Limits while finishing a length in front of Elysea’s World in the Athenia, which, like the Forever Together, is run at 1 1/16 miles. Penjade was another nose back in fourth.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A field of at least 10 is expected for the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile, a race traditionally run the Saturday after Thanksgiving that this year was moved back to Dec. 2 to accommodate horses who may have run in a Breeders’ Cup race on Nov. 4.
Three horses coming out of Breeders’ Cup races are expected for the Cigar Mile, including Sharp Azteca and Practical Joke, second and fourth, respectively, in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and Mind Your Biscuits, third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Finley’sluckycharm came out of a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in good condition and is taking it easy at Fair Grounds in preparation for a 2018 campaign her connections hope ends with another Breeders’ Cup start.
Finley’sluckycharm, who is owned by Carl Moore, won four stakes this year and was 7-1 in the Filly and Mare Sprint, but she never got involved in the race and was beaten nearly 14 lengths by upset winner Bar of Gold.
Girvin, among the best 3-year-olds of 2017, is on holiday at a Florida farm but should rejoin trainer Joe Sharp’s stable at Fair Grounds early next year.
Girvin won the $1 million Louisiana Derby earlier this year at Fair Grounds and went on to capture the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational July 30 at Monmouth Park. But after finishing 11th in the Travers Stakes and fifth in the Sept. 24 Oklahoma Derby, he was sent to owner Brad Grady’s Grand Oaks farm for a freshening.
The opening-day past performances at the Fair Grounds meet suggested trainer Al Stall was set up for a monster day, but as anyone in racing knows, lining up the ducks typically is a lot easier than shooting them down. But in this case, the Stall barn executed as well as it planned, winning four of the 10 races this past Saturday.
“Days like that, things all have to go right,” Stall said Tuesday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ivy Bell has endured more than her share of misadventure, so owner Brook Smith and trainer Billy Denzik are hoping the talented 4-year-old filly can end the year on a positive note Friday at Churchill in the $80,000 Dream Supreme.
