Horse Racing
3rd-Indiana Grand, $36,000, Alw, 8-23, (NW2L), 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.89, ft, 8 1/4 lengths. JOYRUNNER (f, 2, Gun Runner--Joy {MSW, $250,544}, by Pure Prize) passed five of her eight rivals in the final furlong to annex her July 8 debut going a sloppy 5 1/2 furlongs and was the 11-10 chalk to put them back-to-back. The McIngvale colorbearer hopped a bit at the break, but was patiently handled and raced three wide into the turn. Roused to the front nearing the quarter pole, the Maryland-bred drifted out off the home...
Medina Spirit (Protonico), unraced since a third-place finish behind Rombauer (Twirling Candy) in the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 15, was not among the nominees to the Aug. 29 Shared Belief S., but may be ready for the GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 25, trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday. "There have been rumors about that horse since May 1," Baffert said with a laugh. "There has been a lot of talk about that horse. He's going to breeze this week and I'll know more after that. I go work-by-work with...
It was a busy morning at Saratoga for 3-year-olds headed towards next Saturday's $1.25-million GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga, headed by GI Belmont S. hero and reigning champion juvenile Essential Quality (Tapit). The 'TDN Rising Star,' ridden by leading jockey Luis Saez, worked outside of stablemate Bonny South (Munnings) and the duo covered five furlongs in 1:01.58 (10/18). The Godolphin homebred was caught in fractions of :11.40, :23.22 and :47.81 before galloping out three-quarters of a mile in 1:15 flat. Juddmonte's enigmatic Bonny South is also scheduled to race...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, post time: 1:05 p.m. ET While the GI Alabama S. takes centerstage later on in the program, the Saturday lid-lifter at Saratoga looks a key race in prospect, with any number of booming pedigrees and lofty pricetags on display. Peter Leidel signed the ticket at an even $1 million for RAYMOND (Into Mischief) at Keeneland September last fall, with the colt's breeder Stonestreet Stables staying in for a share. The Apr. 21 foal is the third foal to the...
In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for Sunday running at Kokura, Niigata and Sapporo Racecourses. Sunday's G3 Kitakyushu Kinen at Kokura, one of a couple of steppingstones to October's G1 Sprinters' S., has attracted US-bred GISW Mozu Superflare (Speightstown) and GSW/G1SP Gendarme (Kitten's Joy) going the metric six furlongs: Sunday, August...
In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. With a good amount of American-bred activity this weekend, we will run this information in two installments and with that, here are the horses of interest for Saturday running at Sapporo and Niigata Racecourses. Sunday's notable entrants will appear in Saturday's TDN: Saturday, August 21, 2021 1st-SAP, ¥9,680,000 ($88k), Maiden,...
Dislodged wiring within the United Tote Company circuitry at Thistledown resulted in betting pools remaining open for nearly a minute into a one-mile race on Tuesday. Wagering had to be manually stopped once the error was discovered mid-race, and the race was eventually declared a "no contest" for pari-mutuel purposes. Based on pool totals shown on the Thistledown post-race video feed, this meant refunds of $82,191 in wagers for the sixth race Aug. 17. It is unclear how much of that money was bet "after the bell." A lack of...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Without hesitation, trainer Kenny McPeek used a four-letter word to describe his level of concern about Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map) entering the GI $600,000 Alabama S. Saturday after missing the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. "None," he said. After the 'TDN Rising Star', owned by Phoenix Thoroughbred III, rebounded from an uncharacteristic poor performance in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks with a pair of impressive wins, McPeek aimed her for Saratoga's two big races for 3-year-old fillies. That plan was scuttled the evening of opening day, July 15,...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--For all leading trainer Graham Motion has accomplished in an illustrious career, missing from his resume is a victory in any of Chicago's Grade I events. Alex Campbell, Jr.'s Mean Mary (Scat Daddy) will try to right that wrong as the 9-5 morning-line selection for Saturday's GI Beverly D. S., the first of the afternoon's top-level tests. A treble graded winner in 2020, the homebred was just run down by champion Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in the GI Diana S. last August and weakened to seventh at...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}), perfect in three starts this term and in six of seven trips to the post in his career, will look to give Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables a second consecutive success in the GI Mister D. S. (formerly Arlington Million) and provide trainer Chad Brown with a record-extending fifth when he faces as many as nine rivals in what is to be the final running (at Arlington Park) of America's first million-dollar race Saturday in suburban Chicago. A 300,000gns purchase out of the 2018...
In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Kokura and Sapporo Racecourses: Saturday, August 14, 2021 9th-KOK, ¥30,720,000 ($278k), Allowance, 2yo, 1200mT DUGAT (c, 2, Practical Joke--Untraveled, by Canadian Frontier) takes on winners in this first trip to the races. The Mar. 31 foal is the first produce...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--They are a dime a dozen nowadays, but back in 1981, the idea that a track would offer a $1-million purse for a Thoroughbred horse race was about as far-fetched as civilians building their own rockets for space travel. As president and chief executive officer of Arlington Park, the late Joe Joyce conceived of and brought to fruition a race that would be called the Arlington Million, an event aimed at drawing the best horses to race over the renowned Arlington turf course not just those based domestically,...