ELMONT, N.Y. - Nick Zito is taking it day by day with his talented sprinter Declan’s Warrior, and as of Monday he was planning to enter the 3-year-old in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens.
After Declan’s Warrior ran very hard and very fast in winning the Gygistar Stakes on May 22, Zito said he might skip the Woody Stephens because it came back in just 17 days and he might considering stretching Declan’s Warrior, a son of Majestic Warrior, out in the Dwyer on July 6.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse was in Ocala, Fla., last weekend, but his Woodbine forces were in full flight as Laugh Track and Delightful Mary gave the stable a sweep of the weekend stakes.
Delightful Mary got the ball rolling Saturday with a one-length victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Hendrie for fillies and mares. Laugh Track, not to be outdone, captured Sunday’s Grade 3, $156,000 Vigil by a half-length over two-time reigning Canadian sprint champion and odds-on favorite Esssence Hit Man. Luis Contreras rode both winners.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher had five horses in the Kentucky Derby and was shut out, and he bypassed the Preakness Stakes altogether, but he is mounting another assault on the final leg of the Triple Crown, the 145th Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park. Pletcher has five runners in what, as of Monday, was shaping up as a 15-horse field.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Centre Court has won races from a mile to 1 1/8 miles, but trainer Rusty Arnold would be hard-pressed to declare at which distance she is best.
“I need to know that, but I don’t,” Arnold said Monday. “This year, I’m going to know that for certain. She’s got a pretty good turn of foot when you need it at a mile.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. − Considering that 140 trainers have started a runner at the 2013 Arlington meet, it’s a little hard to grasp how great an influence just two of them have cast over the proceedings. Wayne Catalano, with 26 wins, and Larry Rivelli, with 20, have combined to win 46 of the 192 races run. In other words, less than 2 percent of the trainer population has accounted for nearly one-quarter of the winners.
Indiana-sired horses take center stage Wednesday evening at Indiana Downs with a pair of $85,000 stakes – the Shelby County for fillies and mares and the William Henry Harrison for colts and geldings, both run at six furlongs.
Pass the Crown faces statebred company for the first time this year and will be looking for his first win since 2011 in the William Henry Harrison. Trained by Merrill Roberts, Pass the Crown has a pair of seconds in as many outings this year, both locally.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Recent maiden winner Line of Best Fit takes a speed figure advantage into the featured second race on the first Wednesday night card of the Woodbine meet. Post time for the first of eight races is 6:45 p.m.
Line of Best Fit closed belatedly on the outside over a rail-favoring track when third in her debut on the final day of the 2012 meet. Like all Bob Tiller-trained runners, she got the winter off. She was second when she came off the bench May 5 in a maiden special won by I’m a Kittyhawk, who subsequently doubled up in the Lady Angela Stakes.
Arctic Ceal is going to appreciate the considerably easier company Wednesday night at Northlands Park when he runs in a $15,000 claiming race for horses that have never won two races. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew six horses and headlines an eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.
ELMONT, N.Y. – In addition to unveiling subsequent graded stakes winners Dreaming of Julia and Kauai Katie at Saratoga last summer, Stonestreet Stables debuted a third freakishly fast filly in Teen Pauline.
Teen Pauline set a track record in her debut July 25, running five furlongs in 56.53 seconds. After running third in the Grade 1 Spinaway later in the meet, Teen Pauline came out of the race with a physical issue that ended her juvenile season.
Stormin Monarcho, invading from Canterbury Park, could be the horse to beat in Wednesday’s evening’s Golden Boy at Assiniboia Downs.
The $30,000 Golden Boy, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds, is the first stakes race of the Assiniboia meeting.
Stormin Monarcho, trained by Joel Berndt, finished third in last September’s Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity at one mile but was a nonthreatening 12th of 14 in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby over 1 1/8 miles at Hawthorne last time out.
