Who faces Flightline in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Sept. 3 at Del Mar? The answer is whoever runs well July 30 in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap.
Grade 1/Group 1 winners Country Grammer (Dubai World Cup), Express Train (Santa Anita Handicap), and Tripoli (Pacific Classic) are among 14 older horses nominated to the mile and a sixteenth San Diego on a Saturday card that also includes the Grade 1 Bing Crosby.
Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., on Friday canceled its racing program for Monday because of excessive heat.
The high temperature Monday is forecast to be 96 degrees with a heat index of around 110.
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Officials at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, Canada, have asked the state’s regulatory board to conduct a “full and complete” review of the fifth race at the track on Wednesday night, citing a highly irregular ride on the horse that finished second in the race after slowing to a trot entering the stretch.
Darren Dunn, the chief executive officer of the track, said that he asked the provincial racing regulator - the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority - to conduct the “prompt” review on Thursday morning. Dunn then issued a release stating that the track had asked for the inquiry.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It would appear that Secret Oath and Nest will make it easy on Eclipse Award voters by settling their battle for the 3-year-old filly championship on the racetrack.
Secret Oath beat Nest by two lengths in the Kentucky Oaks on May 6, and the two 3-year-old fillies appear set to meet twice at the Saratoga meet. The first of those two meetings takes place Saturday when the pair head a field of five entered in the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Bret Calhoun-trained 2-year-olds who swept divisions of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity on Sunday at Lone Star Park are headed to Kentucky.
Calhoun said Tuesday next race plans are to be determined for both Vietnam Victory, who defeated colts and geldings, and Free Drop Maddy, who won her maiden over fillies.
“They both have upside,” said Calhoun.
Brad Cox, who trained 2021 Haskell Invitational winner Mandaloun, will try for his second straight Haskell with the mercurial but maturing Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife. Bob Baffert, a nine-time Haskell winner, won the 2020 Haskell in the heart of COVID-19 with Authentic and this year sends the lightly raced and still somewhat unexposed Taiba from California.
Ellis Park has moved first post time to 10:30 a.m. Central for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday because of the forecast for extreme heat in the western Kentucky region where the track is located.
First post normally is 12:50 p.m. Central.
“Obviously the safety of our racehorses and backstretch personnel is paramount,” Jeff Inman, general manager at Ellis, said in a Wednesday release. “By starting more than two hours early, we will avoid the full brunt of the heat."
Barber Road, who is on vacation after running in two-thirds of the Triple Crown, has a long range target of next year’s Oaklawn Handicap, according to trainer Johnny Ortiz.
Ortiz noted Barber Road’s sire, Race Day, won that race and the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn and those are major objectives for the horse owned by WSS Racing.
“We’d love for him to do what his daddy did,” said Ortiz.
Del Mar wore down trainer Robertino Diodoro.
In recent years, California track officials, notably Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens, badgered Diodoro about re-establishing a stable on the West Coast for the first time since 2016. The sustained strategy worked. Diodoro will have approximately 20 horses at the Del Mar summer meeting that begins Friday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Slade Callaghan, who has recorded nearly 850 career wins, including 31 stakes, has been named the 2022 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award.
The coveted award is given to a jockey who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular rider in the country for more than five years who has made significant contributions to the sport. The colorful Gomez, one of the most successful jockeys in Canadian racing history, died of complications from a three-horse accident in the 1980 Canadian Oaks.
