Racing News

Glenn Van Camp says there are similarities between 3-year-old gelding trotter Damfoolrmillionair and his award-winning half-brother San Pail. Whether the two will have similar careers still remains unknown, but Van Camp would be happy even if Damfoolrmillionair is only half as good.

Damfoolrmillionair is among seven horses competing in Saturday’s C$682,000 Canadian Trotting Classic for 3-year-old trotters at Mohawk Racetrack. He will start from post seven with driver Randy Waples at the lines for trainer Brad Maxwell.

The field also includes Hambletonian winner Trixton and newly crowned Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion Father Patrick, both from the stable of trainer Jimmy Takter.

It’s unanimous again.

Eight-year-old trotter Sebastian K received all 35 first-place votes in this week’s Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll. He enjoyed the No. 1 spot unanimously three weeks in July, as well.

Last Friday, Sebastian K won the Crawford Farms Open Trot at Vernon Downs. On Saturday, second-ranked Sweet Lou, who had seven first-place votes in last week’s poll, saw his unbeaten streak end at 10 races with a setback in the Canadian Pacing Derby.

Sweet Lou remained No. 2 in the rankings, followed by Simcoe Stakes winner Trixton and Zweig Memorial winner Father Patrick. He’s Watching, who finished second in the Cane Pace, rounded out the top five.

Veteran amateur drivers, Steve “You’re Never Too” Oldford,  and Bob “the Headhunter” Hechkoff along with newcomer Robert “Big Bob” Kenney, each won their respective divisions in the Billings Harness Driving Series this past weekend.

Oldford scored a 1:57 triumph with Bold Strike in Midwest Region action  at Scioto Downs on August 29 while Hechkoff and Kenney were victorious in the east  at Plainridge Racecourse on September 1; Hechkoff with Tagmaster in 1:56.1 and Kenney with Rev Up The Spice in 1:59.3.

No stranger to the winners circle, Steve Oldford visited that revered ground again when he scored his seventh seasonal triumph with his newly purchased Bold Strike.

“I bought him from June Du Russel, who over the years has generously supplied horses for the Billings Series. “This was the first time I sat behind him and I like him a lot,” Oldford explained. “He’s a pleasure to drive and (he) did everything I asked of him.”

The Lunch Pail powered to the front and rolled to a comfortable victory in a career-best 1:51.1, fastest in Wednesday’s $60,000 Pennsylvania Stallion Series at The Meadows.

The event for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers was contested over three divisions, with Sean Liam Q and Brioni also taking $20,000 splits. Eric Ledford enjoyed a stake double behind The Lunch Pail and Sean Liam Q. The Meadows will host the championships for all eight stallion series divisions Sept. 8-9.

The Lunch Pail dueled with Avalanche Hanover before grabbing the lead and allowing his rival to stalk from the pocket. But Avalanche Hanover couldn’t cut into the margin late and settled for second, 1-1/2 lengths back, with Hemingway third.

Sunset Glow handled her rivals in the Sorrento Stakes (gr. II) with consummate ease over the Del Mar Polytrack, and she is a standout among the field of untried 2-year-old fillies entered for the $300,000Del Mar Debutante (gr. I) Aug. 30.

With Victor Espinoza aboard, the solidly-built Sunset Glow got the jump on her four rivals in the 6 1/2-furlong Sorrento Aug. 6 and was never threatened as she cleared off for a 3 1/4-length victory in a time of 1:16.61. That strong front-running effort came after a fine second on the turf at Royal Ascot in the Albany Stakes (Eng-III) six weeks earlier for trainer Wesley Ward and owner Ten Broeck Farm.

None of her rivals in the Sorrento return in the Debutante, and among the other entrants in the seven-furlong Polytrack event only one, Seduire, has raced in stakes company.

A trio of fillies who have registered runner-up finishes in recent grade I races in New York will try to finish atop the $300,000 Prioress Stakes (gr. II) Aug. 30 at Saratoga Race Course.

The grade I-placed trio includes Miss Behaviour, who enters off a runner-up finish to Sweet Reason in the Test Stakes Aug. 2 at Saratoga; TVG Acorn Stakes runner-up Sweet Whiskey, who also finished behind Sweet Reason; andPrincess Violet, who makes her first start since finishing 9 1/4 lengths behindUntapable in the Mother Goose Stakes June 28 at Belmont Park.

Carl MacWilliam and Neil Teitelbaum's Miss Behaviour will cut back to six furlongs after her impressive effort in the seven-furlong Test. The daughter of Jump Start   boasts three stakes wins, including a score in last year's Matron Stakes (gr. II) at Belmont Park.

If ever there was a time to beat Wise Dan, that time is now.

You can practically see that thought percolating in the minds of trainers at Saratoga Race Course, where the two-time Horse of the Year has been working all summer.

On May 16, colic surgery took Wise Dan out of action after he took his first two races of the season—repeat victories in the April 11 Maker's 46 Mile (gr. IT) and the May 3 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (gr. IT).

Douglass Hutchins is hoping for another happy hour in a Zweig Memorial.

Hutchins bred and owns Martiniwithmuscle, who is among the nine horses entered in Friday’s (Aug. 29) $340,000 Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters at Vernon Downs. Martiniwithmuscle will start from post five with driver Tim Tetrick and is 8-1 on the morning line.

Seven years ago, Hutchins watched Martiniwithmuscle’s mom, Cocktail Hour, win a filly division of the Zweig Memorial at Tioga Downs.

This Week: Canadian Pacing Derby final, Metro final, She’s A Great Lady final, Champlain Stakes and Simcoe Stakes, Mohawk Racetrack, Campbellville, Ontario; Zweig Memorial, Zweig Memorial Filly and Crawford Farms Trot, Vernon Downs, Vernon, N.Y.; and Cane Pace, Shady Daisy and Miss Versatility, Tioga Downs, Nichols, N.Y.

It wasn’t a battle of the titans at Monticello Raceway on Monday afternoon (Sept. 8), but it was a confrontation between Diamond Tiara and Shortest Distance, the two harness horses with the most victories (18) in North America this season.

Actually the two had confronted one another back on Aug. 25 and both finished off the board. But on Monday, Shortest Distance prevailed and her 19th seasonal triumph makes her the clear leader in races won by a Standardbred in 2014.

Bruce Aldrich Jr. was again at the controls behind the 6-year-old Park Place mare as they easily scored a five length victory in 1:55.1 after starting from post position three. Future Rock Star and Zeke Parker finished second while Givemybest Hanover was third for Larry Stalbaum.

The newly renovated main track at Santa Anita Park will reopen for training Sept. 2, three weeks before the autumn meet begins.

The one-mile track has been closed to training since July 11 while its original sand and clay mix was replaced by a single-source natural material known as "El Segundo Sand."

A naturally occurring, indigenous soil, El Segundo Sand will help to ensure balanced drainage during periods of wet weather and a uniform, safe cushion year 'round.

New track superintendent Dennis Moore says the indigenous soil will help ensure balanced drainage during wet weather and a uniform, safe cushion year-round.

When Southern Equine Stables' Whitney (gr. I) winner Moreno and runner-upItsmyluckyday   face off again Aug. 30 in the final grade I race of the Saratoga Race Course season for older horses, the $600,000 Woodward Stakes, more than the winner's share will be on the line.

Trainer Eric Guillot hopes that Moreno, the dangerous front-running speedster, can thrust himself into the conversation for Horse of the Year honors if he wins the Woodward en route to victories in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) and the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I). The 4-year-old Ghostzapper   gelding took a serious step up in class Aug. 2 when he won the $1.5 million Whitney in dramatic gate-to-wire fashion at 10-1 odds over some of the top horses in the country.

We've seen some sensational sprint performances this year. Now if only someone can actually put two of them together.

Up Hill Stable's Clearly Now will attempt to do just that in the $500,000 Forego Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race CourseAug. 30. The Breeders' Cup Challenge race entitles the winning connections to an expense-paid starting berth in the Xpressbet Breeders' /Cup Sprint (gr. I) Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.

Clearly Now takes on nine opponents in the Forego as he attempts to come close to duplicating his Herculean performance in the Belmont Sprint Stakes (gr. III), in which he demolished his opposition by 6 1/4 lengths, blazing the seven furlongs in a track-record 1:19.96.

The Del Mar jockey colony will add a Hall of Fame rider Labor Day weekend when Alex Solis returns home to the West Coast after nearly five years based in the east.

Solis, who became the 98th jockey inducted into the Hall of Fame earlier this month, has 4,992 career wins from 33,600 starts. His mounts have accumulated purse earnings of $235,699,608.

He was named on two mounts for the Saturday, Aug. 30 card at Del Mar. He is to ride Z Z Thunderin the second race for trainer David Hofmans in a maiden special weight event , and Perfect Set in the seventh for trainer George Papaprodromou, a starter allowance.

Mister Marti Gras, winner of the 2011 edition of the Washington Park Handicap (gr. III), makes his fourth consecutive start in the $150,000 race Aug. 30 on the Polytrack at Arlington International Racecourse.

Lothenbach Stables' 7-year-old son ofBelong to Me faces just five rivals in the 1 1/8-mile test, the eighth of nine races on the Saturday program at Arlington. The Chris Block trainee won the race in his first attempt by a neck three years ago, finished second the following year, and ran fourth last year. 

Eddie Plesa Jr., trainer of Itsmyluckyday  , isn't asking for much in theWoodward Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 30 atSaratoga Race Course, just a little bit of luck with the pace, something he feels he didn't get in the recent Whitney Stakes (gr. I).

In the 1 1/8-Whitney Aug. 2, Itsmyluckyday was at a disadvantage having to chase the fast and classyMoreno through a half in :47 1/5 and three-quarters in 1:11 1/5; not a slow pace by any means, but certainly slow by Moreno's standards.

Itsmyluckyday, owned by Trilogy Stable and Plesa's wife Laurie, dug in and tried hard in the stretch, but fell 1 1/4 lengths short. The nine furlongs was run in a snappy 1:48 flat.