DEL MAR, Calif. – If six furlongs was too short and seven furlongs better, might 1 1/16 miles be better still? That’s what trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and owner Larry Williams are going to find out with Tamarando, who won the seven-furlong Del Mar Futurity on Wednesday and will be pointed to the Grade 1, $250,000 Frontrunner Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The champagne was flowing in the office of Joe Harper, Del Mar’s chief executive officer and president, after the races on closing day Wednesday, for there was much to celebrate following a 37-day meeting that was a roaring success from just about every measurement.
Ontrack handle was up, overall handle was up, field size was up, attendance was up, and catastrophic injuries were down.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Serendipity Grove looks like a major player, despite more than doubling his claiming price, when he runs in a $17,500 claiming race for 3-year-olds at Hastings on Saturday. The 6 1/2-furlong dash attracted seven horses and appears to be a wide-open event.
Kentucky Downs long has been known as quaint and unique, a country track where the lush and undulating turf course and an understated vibe have made a day trip to rural south-central Kentucky a memorable one for many.
Yet after some 20 years of abbreviated September meets, Kentucky Downs suddenly has become even more charming – at least to horsemen. Why? There’s gold in them thar hills on the Tennessee border.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Angela Hermann, Canterbury Park’s track handicapper and paddock analyst since 2011, has done just about every job on the front side of this track in the last nine years: Clubhouse usher, ticket sales, guest services, and even the dispatcher in the valet parking area. There was one job, however, she always wanted to try.
She wanted to call the races.
On Saturday, Hermann, 27, will become the first woman to announce an entire race card at a North American Thoroughbred track.
Kingoftherockies faces a stern test when he goes for his seventh straight win this year at Northlands Park in Saturday’s $50,000 Sun Sprint Championship. The 6 1/2-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up headlines a nine-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.
Included in the seven-horse field are last year’s local champion sprinter, Ready Racer, and Dougs Buddy, who is 5 for 6 in sprints in his 15-race career.
Graduates of last March’s John Franks Memorial 2-year-olds in training sale will have the spotlight Saturday night at Evangeline Downs, the final program of the 2013 season. The two divisions of the Franks Memorial Stakes will carry $50,000 purses each and will be contested at 5 1/2 furlongs.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Departing overwhelmed his competition last month when he won the West Virginia Derby by 8 3/4 lengths. He’ll be odds-on for an encore performance Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.
“He’s definitely the horse to beat,” said Dan Peitz, who trains rival Bashaar.
Departing is a multiple graded stakes winner of more than $1 million. He is by one of the planet’s hottest stallions in War Front, and goes for connections who have won the Super Derby. Departing is also still an improving horse, according to trainer Al Stall Jr.
Woodbine-based trainer Roger Attfield hasn’t bothered to ship any horses to Delaware Park since Honimiere and Perfect Shirl were fifth and 10th in the Grade 3 Robert Dick Memorial in July 2011. But Attfield may have found the right runner to make the long trip from suburban Toronto to Delaware worthwhile Saturday.
Are You Kidding Me, second behind recent Grade 3 winner Five Iron in the 1 1/8-mile Toronto Cup, gets the same distance and grass surface for the Kent, a Grade 3, $200,000 stakes restricted to 3-year-olds.
It will be Round 4 of Maddie’s Gold versus Megatron Ruler in the $50,000 Winnipeg Futurity at Assiniboia Downs on Saturday.
The Winnipeg Futurity, which goes at six furlongs, attracted a field of six and will go as the third of eight races on the program.
Maddie’s Gold drew first blood in the heated rivalry, running down the speed of Megatron Ruler to score by a neck when both were debuting at 4 1/2 furlongs on June 29.
