ELMONT, N.Y. – With a bankroll of more than $250,000, it’s hard to believe that Fast Falcon remains eligible for a first-level allowance race.
On more than one occasion, Fast Falcon has proven to be graded stakes material, and he seeks to finally record such a victory when he runs in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Trainer Eddie Johnston wasted little time in getting down to business when the Louisiana Downs season began in early May. Johnston sent out a couple of winners opening weekend and has been a regular ever since – both at the entry box and in the winner’s circle.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Sacred Delight looks like the one to beat in a $25,000 claiming race for 3-year-old fillies that headlines the first Friday night card at Hastings this year. The 6 1/2-half furlong sprint attracted six horses and will kick off the seven-race card, which begins at 7:15 p.m. Pacific.
ELMONT, N.Y. – All 14 3-year-olds entered for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes were on the grounds Wednesday, with Frac Daddy and Golden Soul the last two to arrive from Churchill Downs the previous day.
For the second consecutive morning, the weather was textbook perfect for training – low humidity, with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s, and the racetrack fast but not lightning-quick, as it was last week and into the weekend.
Wednesday at Belmont Park
59 degrees, sunny, fast
Jockey Chantal Sutherland, who announced her retirement here last fall but recently said that she would be making a comeback starting with the Del Mar meeting, has two mounts here Friday.
Sutherland, 37, is named on Solidus for trainer John MacKenzie in the fourth race and on As If I Care for trainer Ashlee Brnjas in the fifth.
Sutherland has enlisted the services of Don Parente, the jockey agent who represented her several years back.
“She’ll be riding here Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for now,” Parente said. “She still plans to ride at Del Mar.”
With the Ontario Racing Commission upholding trainer Brian Lynch’s indefinite suspension at a hearing Tuesday, Robbie Martin will be the trainer of record for the stable here.
Lynch’s suspension stems from an alleged confrontation with jockey Sunny Singh in a Woodbine parking lot on May 24. Lynch was charged May 25 with uttering death threats and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
[bc_video_id:294423:]ELMONT, N.Y. – The weather forecast for the 145th Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park has worsened as the week has progressed, but as far as Tom Albertrani is concerned, “It’s getting better and better for us every time.”
ALTOONA, Iowa – Ginger Added, already a two-time sprint winner this meet, is the key to Friday night’s $75,000 Hawkeyes Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile event for Iowa-bred fillies and mares.
Ginger Added, the longstanding stable star for trainer Dick Clark, is 7 for 12 lifetime, all at Prairie Meadows, for earnings of $298,871. Throughout her career, she has excelled at sprinting and is just 1 for 4 around two turns.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jade Dragon brings stakes credentials to Friday’s co-featured third race at Woodbine and should be favored in the 6 1/2-furlong allowance for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds.
Jade Dragon showed precocity at 2, when he graduated at first asking in early June, but he sat out two months last summer after ending far back in the high-quality Clarendon Stakes on June 30.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Neil Drysdale has found much success on the local turf courses through the years, with three Woodbine Miles and one Canadian International, Northern Dancer, Sky Classic, and Nearctic on his r é sum é .
But Drysdale will be looking for his first win on Woodbine’s Polytrack on Saturday when he sends out Kid Dreams in the 1 1/8-mile Plate Trial.
