Six evenly matched fillies and mares will line up for Saturday’s $200,000 Vagrancy Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Spectacular Sky carries the nominal top weight of 118 pounds, giving one to four pounds to Fantasy of Flight, Glorious View, Irish Exchange, Miss d’Oro, and Withgreatpleasure.
The 63rd running of the Grade 2 Vagrancy is race 9 on a 10-race card and the third leg of a late pick four with a $300,000-guaranteed pool; post time is 5:17 p.m. Eastern.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Moonlit Beauty, winner of four stakes and almost $600,000, is by far the most accomplished member of the 12-horse field of Ontario-sired fillies and mares for Saturday’s $125,000 Ballade Stakes.
But can Moonlit Beauty shine under the circumstances, making her first start of the season at a six-furlong distance that isn’t her preferred trip?
BALTIMORE – Summer Applause bounced back from one bad effort earlier this year when she won the Grade 2 Top Flight at Aqueduct. Her connections hope she shows similar resilience in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire duPont Distaff at Pimlico.
Summer Applause finished fourth in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 12, a race in which trainer Chad Brown said his filly apparently “didn’t care for the surface” at Oaklawn Park.
BALTIMORE – No matter the temperature at Pimlico on Saturday, the heat is going to get turned up in the Grade 3, $150,000 Maryland Sprint Handicap, a six-furlong race loaded with early speed.
Action Andy, Manito, Warrioroftheroses, and Sage Valley all have sharp early speed, and with Action Andy and Manito drawn in posts 1 and 3, respectively, in the 10-horse field, they likely are committed to send. The potential race shape could benefit the likes of Hardened Wildcat and Candyman E, both of whom appear to be sitting on big efforts following lengthy breaks.
MIAMI – While the leaders of the local sprint division at Calder – Trinniberg, Jackson Bend, and Bahamian Squall – have the luxury of biding their time as they point towards the Grade 2 Smile on July 8, several of their contemporaries must still earn their way into the big event. Among them is Close It Out, who tops a field of 10 Smile prospects entered in Saturday’s $55,000 Champali Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Earl “Buzzy” Tenney, the longtime assistant to trainer Shug McGaughey, watched the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago from his Long Island home surrounded by family and friends.
Tenney, 61, admitted that a lot of people started “jumping around like kids” when Orb passed Normandy Invasion and splashed to a 2 1/2-length victory, giving McGaughey his long-awaited first Derby.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It is tough to separate the eight older horses running in a $35,000 optional claimer that will serve as Saturday’s feature at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint is the last of seven races carded, and an abundance of speed in the field could set things up nicely for Crew Leader.
Two of the most logical contenders in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Red Bank Stakes at Monmouth Park have been away from the races for a while. Za Approval has been idle since winning his first career stakes in the Grade 3 Appleton on March 30. Tune Me In, a two-time Grade 3 winner at Monmouth last season, will be making his first start since December.
Their absences are nowhere near as lengthy as that of Two Notch Road, a 6-year-old whose last race was in early October of his 3-year-old season.
If it seems like spring has arrived later than usual at Delaware Park, you’re right. Instead of its customary opening in mid to late April, or the Saturday after the Kentucky Derby, as was done last year, Delaware launches its abbreviated 2013 season Saturday in conjunction with the Preakness, which takes place some 90 miles down Interstate 95 in Baltimore.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All eyes will be riveted Saturday on Pimlico – except, of course, when there are other races elsewhere to bet on and watch.
That will happen 11 times Saturday at Churchill Downs, where this whole Orb thing got started two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby. In due deference to the second jewel of the Triple Crown, a race of considerably less importance than the Preakness will serve as the Churchill feature Saturday: The Keertana, a $65,000 overnight stakes, will have its first running when matching 10 filly-and-mare turf marathoners.
