ELMONT, N.Y. – Vigilantes Way, dominant winner of the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park on June 20, will step into Grade 1 company next time when she runs in the $500,000 Diana Stakes on July 17 at Saratoga.
Among those pointing to the Diana are Althiqa and Summer Romance, who ran one-two in the Grade 1 Just a Game for Godolphin Racing and trainer Charlie Appleby.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The field for Monday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes underwent some revision – and could still undergo more – before it was drawn on Friday with a field of five.
With the field losing a couple of players – most notably Following Sea and then his stablemate Mahaamel – trainer Shug McGaughey opted to alter course with First Captain. Rather than wait until the Curlin Stakes on July 30 at Saratoga, McGaughey will have First Captain make his stakes debut in the Dwyer, a one-turn mile.
Three-time stakes winner Brickyard Ride worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds on Friday at Santa Anita in preparation for the most prestigious race of his career in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 30 at Del Mar.
The $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs is the leading sprint at the track’s summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over the same course and distance on Nov. 6.
Led by Gamine, the champion female sprinter of 2020, Monday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos has a probable field of seven fillies and mares.
Gamine is unbeaten in two starts this year, including the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 1 at Churchill Downs. Her main rival in the $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes is Edgeway, the sharp winner of the Carousel Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs on April 10 at Oaklawn Park.
Hot Rod Charlie, third in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 and second in the Belmont Stakes on June 5, is on schedule for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 17 at Monmouth Park, while plans have yet to be finalized for Rombauer, winner of the Preakness Stakes on May 15.
Both colts worked Friday at Santa Anita. Hot Rod Charlie worked six furlongs in 1:11.60, while Rombauer worked five furlongs in 1:01.
With the Churchill barn area being vacated this summer because of the massive renovation of the turf course, Neil Pessin is taking his stable to his former longtime stomping grounds at Arlington Park. Among the horses headed to the northwest Chicago track is Bell’s the One, whose victory in the Roxelana on June 19 at Churchill took her past the $1 million earnings mark.
O Besos was not entered in the Indiana Derby as had been planned after trainer Greg Foley expressed dissatisfaction with the way the colt emerged from his Tuesday workout at Churchill.
“Maybe that work the other day jammed something up a little,” Foley told Indiana Grand publicity. “We checked him out, didn’t find anything. I don’t think nothing is bad or anything. We’re just passing the race.”
Even as he ships out for the summer, Brad Cox is cutting his Kentucky colleagues no slack.
Cox, the leading trainer at the recently ended Churchill Downs spring meet, is in the process of sending most of the top horses in his powerhouse stable to Saratoga for a meet that starts July 15. But he still left plenty behind at Ellis Park, where he started the 31-day meet by sending out two winners last Sunday, opening day at the western Kentucky track.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse said the unbeaten Brazilian import Filo Di Arianna is probably headed for the Grade 1 Fourstardave on Aug. 14 at Saratoga following his smashing Woodbine debut in an open allowance.
When returning from a layoff more than two years here June 27, Filo Di Arianna closed strongly from third to win a seven-furlong turf sprint going away over a quality field that included Gray’s Fable and Silent Poet. He earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure under Emma-Jayne Wilson.
The Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on Sunday will have a field of five, according to racing secretary Bob Moreno.
The $150,000 race at 1 1/8 miles was scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed a day when the race failed to draw sufficient entries on Wednesday. The race added a fifth runner when entries were taken on Thursday.
The expected field includes Back Ring Luck, Classier, Defunded, Ingest, and It’s My House.
