All that is familiar about Del Mar will be new when the track opens its 15-day autumn meeting Friday.
Famous for its summer meeting, Del Mar has added a four-week meeting this month, replacing racing dates previously held at Hollywood Park, which closed last December. For racing fans, horsemen, track executives, and everyone else, the autumn meeting starts with questions.
Little Ms Protocol was a sweeping 3 1/4-length winner of the $100,000 Magnolia at Delta Downs last Friday night. She is now being pointed for the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies at Fair Grounds on Dec. 13, said her trainer, Patrick Devereux Jr.
The win in the Magnolia came in Little Ms Protocol’s first start since July.
“She needed the rest,” Devereux said. “We freshened her, gave her some spa days. She had a backlog. She cashed them in.”
Little Ms Protocol, an earner of more than $700,000, is owned by her breeder, Coteau Grove Farms.
Sunbean’s powerful win in last Saturday night’s $100,000 Gold Cup at Delta Downs has opened up a couple of different race options for Brittlyn Stable and trainer Ron Faucheux. Sunbean was making his first start in more than two months in the Gold Cup, and after stalking the pace took quick command on the final turn and went on to a 4 3/4-length win. Sunbean earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93.
Gulfstream Park West will host eight stakes for Florida-breds on Saturday in a program of races intended to produce starters for the Sunshine Millions card at Gulfstream in January. Each of Saturday’s stakes are worth $100,000, led by the Millions Classic Preview.
Trainer David Fawkes will be active on the card, with Daring Kathy expected to start as one of the top choices in the Filly and Mare Turf Preview.
“She’s won five out of eight and is placed in two graded stakes,” Fawkes said. “She’s a nice filly.”
The new autumn meeting at Del Mar that begins Friday will provide a fresh start for the two-time stakes winner Awesome Return.
In July, Awesome Return finished third in an optional claimer on turf at Del Mar. Owner and breeder Richard Kritzski and trainer Mike Puype decided to give the colt a 30-day break from training.
By any measure, the first half of 2014 was successful for Awesome Return, with two stakes wins against California-breds – the Snow Chief Stakes at Santa Anita and the Silky Sullivan Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown was sitting behind his desk in his Belmont Park office Monday morning, dealing with the present, with the most pressing issue being when and where to ship the horses he has remaining at Saratoga.
But certainly he had time to visit the past – the recent past – as in this weekend, when he won three Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita.
“It’s starting to sink in,” Brown said. “It’s one of those things you wish you could go back and do it again this weekend. Time flies by. We had a lot of fun out there and we had some good luck go our way.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Now what?
That’s the question Eclipse Award voters will be asking over the next two months after a Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita that had the promise of emphatically deciding both Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male, but ended in controversy.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Constitution's 2-year-old half-sister, Jacaranda, won Sunday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Tempted Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths over Paulassilverlining. She ran a mile under windy conditions in 1:40.24 and earned a 72 Beyer Speed Figure.
Unlike in her maiden win, Jacaranda broke alertly Sunday and led throughout under Jose Ortiz.
“She did it right for a change,” trainer Mike Hushion said. “Experience was her best trainer.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though it wasn’t a very good weekend for him at the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Todd Pletcher did quite well at Aqueduct, winning two of the three graded stakes.
On Saturday, Pletcher won the Grade 3 Discovery Handicap for 3-year-olds with Protonico. On Sunday, Pletcher was back from Southern California to saddle Blofeld to a five-length victory over El Kabeir in the Grade 2, $250,000 Nashua.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Midnight Aria, appears to be on track to make his first stakes start since his Queen’s Plate triumph last year in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Autumn Stakes at Woodbine.
Midnight Aria made his first start since his Queen’s Plate win back on Aug. 8, when he finished sixth in a one-mile starter allowance on the grass. But he bounced back nicely in his next start, taking an optional-claiming field gate to wire on the Polytrack on Sept. 28.
