SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Back from an injury and back in Saratoga with a race under her belt, Madame Giry looks poised to return to her winning ways in Friday’s $100,000 Caress Stakes for filly and mare turf sprinters at Saratoga.
Madame Giry will face seven rivals in the Caress, scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on the Mellon turf course, including last year’s 19-1 upset winner, Rosa Salvaje.
The man who runs Los Alamitos had some of the fastest horses running at Los Alamitos last Saturday.
Ed Allred, the track’s owner and one of the nation’s most prominent Quarter Horse owners and breeders, won two of the three six-figure stakes on the California Champions Night last weekend.
Terlani was lucky to survive a horrific training accident at Hastings last year, but she appears to be on top of her game heading into the $50,000 Madamoiselle Handicap at Northlands Park on Friday. The mile and a sixteenth race for fillies and mares drew seven horses and headlines an eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Pacific.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Occasional View returns to Woodbine in sharp form for Friday’s $89,400 feature, and will likely be favored in the turf allowance, which serves as the prep for the Grade 2 Play the King Stakes on Aug. 25.
Occasional View is based at Presque Isle Downs with trainer Graham Motion, who sent him out to win two allowances there this year on the Tapeta surface. Most recently, he came charging from fifth to score comfortably over the next-out winner Dazzled Saint. He earned a career high 96 Beyer Speed Figure in that six-furlong optional event.
CHESTER, W.Va. – The easiest way to pick the winner of the West Virginia Derby in recent years has been to take Steve Asmussen at a square price. From eight starters in the premier race at Mountaineer Racetrack, Asmussen has won four times, all of them since 2005.
DEL MAR, Calif. – After a series of races going two turns, on dirt, synthetic, and turf, Tiz a Minister returns to a sprint on Friday at Del Mar in the featured $200,000 Real Good Deal Stakes, and while he looks like one of the top two contenders in the race, make no mistake that this is a means to an end.
“I’m hoping to run him in the Del Mar Derby at the end of the meet,” said his trainer, Paul Aguirre.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – The season’s first Super Saturday at Louisiana Downs is set for this weekend, with the $100,000 Super Derby Prelude anchoring a 10-race card.
A mini turf festival of sorts will support the Prelude, as the Barksdale Stakes for 3-year-olds and up, the Sunny’s Halo for 2-year-olds, and the Donnie Wilhite Memorial for 2-year-old fillies are all scheduled for the grass. All three $50,000 supporting stakes should be attractive races to bet on since they will have full fields.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Friday card at Monmouth Park came up surprisingly strong, with four allowances topping the 10-race program.
Surprise stems from the fact that the race office was able to marshal a quartet of solid contests (races 6 through 9) in the aftermath of the Haskell Invitational last Sunday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Uncaptured made a triumphant return to Canada on Tuesday evening, capturing Fort Erie’s $500,000 Prince of Wales for trainer Mark Casse and owner John Oxley.
But the reigning Canadian Horse of the Year probably won’t be sticking around long as he currently is on the farm along with his stablemate Jagger M, and a move back to Churchill Downs probably is in the cards.
COLUMBUS, Neb. – After a 12-week hiatus, live racing returns to Nebraska on Friday evening when Columbus opens a 16-day stand under the control of Columbus Exposition and Racing.
The meet will provide fans a grab bag of wagering angles as many horses and horsemen make their return to the state from tracks in Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. There also appears to be a good number of horses who have not raced since mid-May following the Horsemen’s Park meet, which ended May 12.
