Managing partner Jack Knowlton and his fellow Sackatoga Stable owners stepped out of a yellow school bus at Churchill Downs to gain an upset victory with New York-bred gelding Funny Cide in the 2003 Kentucky Derby. In another unexpected twist, Knowlton and Sackatoga have returned to the national spotlight with another stellar New York-bred.
Category: Horse Racing News
Major Fed Team Decides To Skip Ellis Park Derby, Train Up To Kentucky Derby
Major Fed, runner-up in the Indiana Derby on July 8, had been under consideration for Sunday's Ellis Park Derby at the Henderson, Ky. track. Instead, Travis Foley, assistant and son to trainer Greg Foley, told the Daily Racing Form that the 3-year-old son of Ghostzapper will head straight to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Based at Churchill Downs, Major Fed worked a half-mile beneath the Twin Spires in :50.20 on Aug. 1.
“We're happy with where we are with him and comfortable with the points situation,” the younger Foley told drf.com. “Everything's good and we didn't feel like we needed the race in between.”
Major Fed also owns a second-place finish in the G2 Risen Star Stakes, and a fourth from the G2 Louisiana Derby, leaving him with a total of 38 points toward the Kentucky Derby. He currently sits 16th on the points leaderboard.
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
The post Major Fed Team Decides To Skip Ellis Park Derby, Train Up To Kentucky Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Ayr Meeting Abandoned
Wednesday’s meeting at Ayr was abandoned after the fourth race after heavy rain was found to have caused patches of false ground. The Scottish track had received more than an inch of rain on Tuesday and it continued to fall during the afternoon on Wednesday, causing conditions to deteriorate.
“Jockeys came in after the third race and reported they felt a bit of false ground,” Clerk of the Course Graeme Anderson told Racing TV. “We had a look but it just seemed to be a wetter area, a heavier patch. They came back in after race four and reported a couple of areas, one about the furlong-and-a-half mark and one about just the half-furlong. We had a look. They were pretty deep holes, just really heavy ground. We’d had eight millimetres since 12:30 [Wednesday] on top of 28mm [Tuesday]. It’s been relentless so it’s taken its toll.”
The card’s last five races were abandoned.
“It’s right in the centre,” Anderson added. “We looked at trying to run the races on the round course and abandon the sprint race, but there’s a fear you can’t avoid it during a race. It was better to be safe than sorry.
“It’s an area where we’ve never had a problem before. It just seems to be wetter than others and just holding water and the holes are starting to fill with the rain coming down. It’s going to ride false. I’m hoping it’s just a case of the amount of rain we’ve had and it’s nothing more than that, but we will definitely be investigating and see what caused it and see what it’s looking like. It’s two weeks on Monday for our next meeting and then the Gold Cup meeting about three and a half weeks after that.”
The post Ayr Meeting Abandoned appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Devin Debutante Takes the Eye at Deauville
Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday’s Insights features a half-sister to G1SW Epicuris (GB) (Rail Link {GB}).
5.37 Deauville, Cond, €22,000, 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT
CAPTIOUS (GB) (Frankel {GB}) debuts in the Khalid Abdullah silks for the Henri-Francois Devin stable and is a half-sister to the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Epicuris (GB) (Rail Link {GB}). Among her rivals is Haras Voltaire’s fellow newcomer Babylone (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), an Andre Fabre-trained daughter of the former Niarchos Family homebred Typique (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of Denebola (Storm Cat) who was bought for €450,000 at the Goffs November Mares Sale.
The post Devin Debutante Takes the Eye at Deauville appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
