At this point, new frontiers have become hard to find for Mongolian Saturday.
Over his five years of racing, the 7-year-old Any Given Saturday gelding has run for a $25,000 tag and won a Breeders’ Cup race. He has competed at 16 different tracks in the United States, England, and Hong Kong; raced over dirt, turf and synthetic; and entered the gate for races from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, from bullrings to the Santa Anita downhill course.
Despite the fact three of the five most recent renewals of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint have been won by 3-year-olds, it is quite possible as few as only two sophomores, Takaful and American Pastime, will contest this year’s edition Nov. 4 at Del Mar.
Trinniberg (2012), Runhappy (2015), and defending champion Drefong all showed that pure speed can trump experience when it comes to a race like the Sprint. Takaful, with seven starts, and American Pastime, with only six, are the two least-experienced horses pointing to the Sprint.
Last year, By the Moon was flown to California nearly a month ahead of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita. But with Del Mar providing only a short window of training time prior to the race this year, trainer Michelle Nevin opted to keep the two-time Grade 1 winner home with her in New York.
“She ships the 29th,” said Nevin, who trains By the Moon for her breeder, the Jay Em Ess Stable of Samantha Siegel.
October has been a big month for owner-breeder Stephen Sinatra, who sold the $300,000 topper at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale. On Saturday at Laurel Park, Sinatra will try to set a Maryland Million record when Admirals War Chest shoots for his third consecutive win in the Classic.
The only other horse to own three victories in the $150,000 Classic, which will be run for the 32nd time Saturday, is Eighttofasttocatch, who won the race in 2011, 2013, and 2014. He finished fifth in 2012.
BOBBY’S ESCAPE
Trainer: Denyse McClachrie
Last race: Oct. 14, 6th
Finish: 3rd by 2 1/2
Beyer: 69
The 2-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby was quite wound up in the paddock prior to his second race in a two-turn maiden special, but managed to finish third for the second straight time. He should improve with more racing experience.
Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming will race as a 4-year-old in 2018, it was announced in a press release late Monday afternoon.
The release further stated that Always Dreaming was diagnosed with stomach ulcers following his ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 26.
ELMONT, N.Y. – There will be a memorial service for John Cosentino, a lifelong racetracker who died Oct. 6, on Monday at the Krauss Funeral Home, 1097 Hempstead Turnpike, Franklin Square, N.Y. The service will take place from 6-9 p.m.
Cosentino worked on the New York Racing Association circuit as a pony boy, outrider, trainer and, most recently, as an employee of Sallee Vans, a horse transport company.
Trainer C.R. Trout said he could have six to eight starters on Friday night’s Oklahoma Classics program at Remington Park. The most accomplished name will be former Oklahoma Derby winner Shotgun Kowboy, who is a candidate for the $175,000 Classic.
Trout has a farm in nearby Edmond, Okla., and breeds and owns many of the horses he will start on Classics Night. The program of stakes for Oklahoma-breds is worth more than $1 million.
There will be a $70,000-guaranteed pick four on the card Friday, according to a release from Remington.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen collects antiques. But we’re not talking Pennsylvania Dutch furniture or coins from foreign lands. Asmussen’s antiques are horses – such as the 12-year-old Caberneigh.
Caberneigh will be looking for his second win of the year in Wednesday night’s eighth race at Remington Park.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Total handle on races at Keeneland Racecourse this meet is off 8.6 percent from last fall’s robust figures, but the declines have slowed over the last couple of live race dates after plummeting during the first full weekend in the face of calls to boycott the track because of its recent takeout increase.
