Although narrowly beaten for the second straight year in the $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Saturday, defending Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile titlist Goldencents seemed to solidify his status as the one to beat again this year.
Goldencents pressed a strong pace of 21.98 and 44.25 seconds in the six-furlong race and drew off through midstretch beneath Rafael Bejarano but was caught at the wire by the Hong Kong-based Rich Tapestry as the 4-5 favorite.
For all the drama and excitement of Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp – in which the top four finishers were three necks apart – the race, at least in the immediate wake of the running, seemingly did little to alter the European cast expected to participate in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.
The final major preps for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies were held last weekend, with longshots taking both the Alcibiades and Frizette over rain-soaked tracks.
British shipper Peace and War paid $48.20 after rallying from far back to take a fast-early, slow-late running of the Alcibiades by a half-length, while By the Moon was prominent every step of the way while rolling to a 2 1/4-length victory in the Frizette. She paid $50.50.
The European contingent for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf strengthened on Sunday when Flintshire ran second to Treve in the $6.2 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
While Treve was retired Monday, Flintshire has emerged as the future-book favorite for the BC Turf, the richest turf race in the United States. Taghrooda, who finished third in the Arc, has been mentioned as an outside possibility for the BC Turf, with the Champion Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 18 a more likely possibility for her final career start.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Alex Canchari remained hospitalized Sunday morning after breaking his collarbone in a one-horse spill Friday.
Canchari, 20, faces an unknown spell on the sidelines after being unseated from Scene Queen when the filly clipped heels with a rival at the quarter-pole on turf. Canchari was held at fault for the incident.
On Saturday, he received a five-day suspension from track stewards – from Friday through Oct. 16 – for careless riding.
The suspension dates are during a span in which Canchari still will be recovering from his injury.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The eight-time stakes winner from Emerald Downs in Washington finished fifth as the 2-1 favorite in Saturday’s Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes over six furlongs and bled through Lasix, trainer Ton Wenzel said Sunday.
Wenzel said tentative plans are for Stopshoppingdebbie to be retired at the end of the year and that she may not start again.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A win by Big Bane Theory in the Grade 2 City of Hope Stakes for turf milers at Santa Anita on Saturday may not result in an automatic appearance in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 1.
On Sunday, trainer Carla Gaines was non-committal about plans for Big Bane Theory, who won his first stakes in his 11th start. Aside from the BC Mile, another option is the $250,000 Seabiscuit Handicap over 1 1/16 miles on turf Nov. 28 at Del Mar, a race known as the Citation Handicap when run in past years at the now-closed Hollywood Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Untapable has kept a low profile in California so far, and the Kentucky Oaks winner maintained that profile early Sunday morning at Santa Anita.
It was still dark at 5:30 a.m. when Untapable posted her first workout since arriving. The country’s top-ranked 3-year-old filly worked a half-mile at 5:30 under exercise rider Carmen Rosas. It was an easy get-acquainted-with-the-surface breeze, timed by clockers in 51.80 seconds.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., is scheduled to open an expansion to its gaming center Nov. 7, said Eric Jackson, the track’s general manager. The $20 million project on the south end of the grandstand will add about 25,000 square feet of gaming space to the track’s existing racebook and gaming center, which was constructed in 2009.
