Tag: Racing

Del Mar continues the opening weekend of its 10th fall racing season Sunday with the highlight event being the 28th edition of the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes, a seven-panel spin for fillies and mares born or sired in the California.

The race is part of the Golden State Stakes Series overseen by the CTBA which consists of 39 events run at tracks up and down the state worth a total of $4.85 million. Del Mar hosts 10 of the races – eight in the summer and two in the fall – worth $1,325,000.

The 5/2 favorite for the dash is the quick filly Chancery Way, a 4-year-old daughter of Mr. Big owned by Smolich and Smolich and trained by Jamey Thomas. The bay has won five of her 10 starts, usually on the front end. Antonio Fresu will be aboard the speedster for the first time.

Her chief threat appears to be Nick Alexander's homebred Rose Dawson, a grey 4-year-old by the owner's home stallion Grazen. Phil D'Amato is the conditioner of the three-time winner and he's gotten top rider Juan Hernandez to sign on again for the Sunday special. She's been hung the second choice in the field at 3-1.

Here's the full field for the race in post position order with riders and morning line odds:

1. Chancery Way;
2. Out of the Blue Stables' Bella D, Giovanni Franco (15-1);
3. Harris Farms' Glorious Spring, Flavien Prat (8-1);
4. Jay Em Ess Stable's Power Surge, Tiago Periera (8-1);
5. Tessar or Bach's Smoothlikebuttah, Umberto Rispoli (8-1);
6. Jaime Renella's Chismosa, Edgar Payeras (5-1);
7. Nick Alexander's Carmen Miranda, Ramon Vazquez (4-1), and
8. Rose Dawson.

The Betty Grable is named, of course, for the movie star and pin-up queen of World War II who was a big fan of Del Mar. She was a regular at the track in the '40s and '50s where she and her husband – bandleader and trumpet player Harry James – raced horses regularly. Their homebred colt Big Noise (the moniker by which James' famous trumpet was known) won the 1951 Del Mar Futurity and was considered one of the favorites for the 1952 Kentucky Derby until an injury took him out of the picture.

The Betty Grable will go off at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday.

The post Del Mar: Eight Cal-Bred Fillies And Mares Go In Sunday’s Betty Grable appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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It's been a remarkable year for the team of Richard Rigney and Phil Bauer and the duo aims to continue their success with their top 3-year-old filly Xigera, who's on target to compete in the Grade 3, $400,000 Falls City on Thanksgiving Day at Churchill Downs.

“Overall, it's been such a special year for Richard and our whole team,” Bauer said. “We're hoping the back half of this year will springboard Xigera to an even better 4-year-old season.”

Xigera began her 3-year-old campaign in June but boasts a solid record of four wins in five starts, most notably a 3 ½-length victory in the Mother Goose Stakes (G2) three weeks ago.

Prior to competing in the Mother Goose, Bauer and Rigney toyed with running Xigera in the Breeders' Cup Distaff but opted to bypass the race.

Overall, Xigera has excelled on both dirt and turf. As a 2-year-old, the daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist broke her maiden win by a convincing 5 ¾ lengths at Saratoga. In her next start, she switched to dirt and finished fourth in the Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland. After a perplexing last-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), Bauer opted to give Xigera a break until June. She returned to the races against first-level allowance company at Churchill Downs and confidently defeated 10 rivals by 3 ½ lengths. One month later, Xigera continued her 3-year-old campaign and bested seven rivals in the Tepin Stakes at Ellis Park. Bauer then shipped Xigera back to Saratoga for the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3) but she finished a distant sixth over the listed “soft” turf.

Following that race, Bauer switched Xigera back to dirt where she cruised to a 6 ¼-length victory in the Seneca Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs, achieving her career-best Brisnet Speed Rating of 101 at the time. She improved that figure by two points in the Mother Goose.

Xigera resumed her serious training at Churchill Downs on Thursday and posted a swift half-mile workout in :47.80.

The 108th running of the 1 1/8-mile Falls City will take place on Thanksgiving Day. Bauer won last year's edition with Played Hard who went on to win the La Troienne (G1) on Kentucky Derby Day.

A full list of nominations for the Falls City will be released by the racing office in the coming days.

The post Phil Bauer Hopes Xigera Can Use Falls City As ‘Springboard’ To Big 4-Year-Old Season appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Gary Broad's long distance specialist Vergara will seek her fourth stakes triumph in Saturday's 67th running of the Grade 3, $300,000 Long Island going 11 furlongs for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward over the inner turf at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Vergara, a 4-year-old Noble Mission bay, is the lone millionaire in the Long Island field having banked $1,110,988 through a 14-4-2-3 record. She earned a 1 5/16-mile victory two starts back in the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon on September 9 before finishing a last-out fifth in the Grade 3 Dowager on October 22 at Keeneland for trainer Graham Motion. A winner of last September's Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs, Vergara will return to the site of her first stakes conquest after capturing the 1 1/16-mile Tepin in November 2021 at the Big A. She also finished second in the local Grade 2 Sands Point last October to round out her sophomore season.

“I'm wheeling her back a little bit quickly which worries me a bit, but we're at that time of year where we're running out of chances to do this,” said Motion, a four-time winner of the Long Island. “She seemed to come out of her last race well and had kind of an awkward trip. I love the filly and I think she's doing well at the moment.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will ride from post 2.

Trainer Christophe Clement will attempt his fifth Long Island victory when he saddles multiple graded stakes-placed Atomic Blonde [post 3, Joel Rosario]. The 4-year-old daughter of The Grey Gatsby was third in her North American debut for Clement when finishing 1 1/4 lengths behind stablemate Amazing Grace in the Grade 3 Orchid in April at Gulfstream Park. She later rounded out the trifecta in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay in May at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Canadian in September at Woodbine Racetrack.

Atomic Blonde will attempt to make amends following an uncharacteristic eighth in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor on October 8 at Woodbine.

“Her last race was one to draw a line through. She's doing well,” Clement said.

A victory would make Atomic Blonde, who was bred in Germany by Gestut Karlshof, the third German-bred to capture the Long Island, joining previous victresses Uriah [2002] and Moonlady [2000]. She is owned by Michaela Faust, West Point Thoroughbreds and Winters Equine.

After saddling last year's winner Temple City Terror, trainer Brendan Walsh will be represented by the formful R Calli Kim [post 4, Jose Ortiz], who has won three straight races after a yearlong layoff. The 6-year-old Revolutionary mare made her seasonal debut in a $32,000 claiming event in August over the Saratoga inner turf before stretching out to 1 5/16 miles in September at Kentucky Downs to capture an allowance optional claimer by two lengths. She enters from a score in a 12-furlong second-level allowance at Keeneland, which she won by 2 3/4 lengths.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle Barry Schwartz's New York homebred Whatlovelookslike [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], who enters from a pacesetting third in the John Hettinger on September 22 at Belmont at the Big A. The 4-year-old English Channel chestnut has made three trips to the winner's circle this season, including an open company allowance optional claiming score going the Long Island distance on August 6 at Saratoga and a triumph in the July 4 Port Washington over yielding Belmont inner turf.

Completing the field are the Bobby Ribaudo-trained Rhombique [post 5, Dylan Davis], Embrace Me [post 6, Trevor McCarthy] for two-time Long Island-winning trainer Tom Albertrani, and Unruly Julie [post 7, Manny Franco] for Hall of Famer Bill Mott. New York-bred stakes-winner Amanda's Folly has been entered for main track only.

The Long Island is slated as Race 4 on Saturday's nine-race program, which also features the listed $150,000 Artie Schiller. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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