ELMONT, N.Y. – Close Hatches probably doesn’t need any help to work fast, but she got it by way of a tremendously fast surface and a workmate as Close Hatches blazed five furlongs in 57.92 seconds over Belmont Park’s main track Saturday morning at Belmont Park.
Close Hatches, the leading older female horse in training, is preparing for the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 5.
The two-time champion Beholder may be peaking at an ideal time this fall.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Beholder worked seven furlongs in 1:24.60, her final major exercise before she starts as a heavy favorite in the $300,000 Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles next Saturday.
Beholder won the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes in 2013 and followed with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. The same race on Oct. 31 is the primary goal for the 4-year-old Beholder this year.
ELMONT, N.Y. - With Belmont Park’s main track playing like the Autobahn Saturday morning, Wicked Strong put in a solid, controlled six-furlong work in 1:13.17 in preparation for his engagement in next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Del Mar will continue to offer an incentive program to owners who ship horses from out of state for the autumn meeting, which runs from Nov. 7-30.
The Ship and Win program will have terms similar to those in place for the track’s summer meeting. Del Mar will pay $1,000 to owners who start a horse at the meet who have not run in California this year. Such horses will also be eligible for a 30 percent purse bonus in overnight races.
Horses making their first start are not eligible for the bonuses.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Fashion Plate, the winner of two Grade 1 race for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita earlier this year, will not race before she is offered for sale in Kentucky in November, trainer Simon Callaghan said.
Fashion Plate is nominated for the $300,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27, but will pass the race after finishing fifth in the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 31, her third consecutive defeat. The Zenyatta Stakes field is expected to be led by the two-time champion Beholder.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Masochistic, second in the Los Alamitos Mile on Sept. 6, could make his next start in the $200,000 Bold Ruler Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 25, trainer A.C. Avila said.
Friday at Santa Anita, Masochistic worked a half-mile in 44.80 seconds, the fastest of 24 works at the distance.
The Grade 3 Bold Ruler is run over seven furlongs, which Avila said has greater appeal than the $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship over six furlongs on Oct. 4.
“I want to run him seven furlongs or a mile,” Avila said.
Trainer Steve Flint has a number of quality 2-year-olds in his care, and a few of them could see stakes action soon at either Delta or Remington Park. Flint is a private trainer for Whispering Oaks Farm and operates out of the Evangeline Training Center near Lafayette, La.
Grand Contender, who swept both graded races run this past meet at Lone Star Park, has resumed training following a freshening and could return to action this fall at Delta Downs, according to trainer Tom Amoss. Grand Contender captured the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile and the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap in succession, invading from his Churchill Downs base in Kentucky.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Happy My Way reintroduced himself to the Belmont main track Thursday morning by blazing five furlongs in 58.59 seconds in preparation for the Grade 1 Vosburgh here Sept. 27. It was the fastest of 10 works at the distance.
Happy My Way had not been on Belmont’s main track since last October, when he was training here. In two career starts over the main track, Happy My Way won a maiden $65,000 claimer in September 2012 and was a well-beaten fifth in the Gygistar Stakes in May 2013.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jess’s Dream, the first foal out of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and by 2007-08 Horse of the Year Curlin, worked three furlongs in 36.84 seconds Friday morning over Belmont’s main track. It was the juvenile colt’s first work since he arrived in trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s barn.
Jess’s Dream, owned by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stable, worked outside of stablemate Good Pick Nick, finishing slightly ahead of him at the wire.
