Racing News

Already a three-time stakes winner atMonmouth Park, Pants On Fire will try for a fourth stakes victory in seven career starts at the Oceanport, N.J., track in the $150,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (gr. III) Aug. 17.

George and Lori Hall's Pants On Fire enters Sunday's 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and older off a third-place finish to Iselin entrant Valid in the Monmouth Cup Stakes (gr. II) July 27. That effort marked the first start of the season for Pants On Fire, who is trained by Kelly Breen.

Pants On Fire boasts previous Monmouth stakes victories in the 2013 Monmouth Cup, the 2012 Skip Away Stakes, and the 2011 Pegasus Stakes (gr. III). A stakes win Sunday would give the 6-year-old Jump Start   horse Monmouth stakes wins in four straight seasons.

PJG Stable's Favorite Tale, a stakes winner in New York and a close up third last time out at Saratoga Race Course, is the 9-5 morning line favorite for the $100,000 Jersey Shore Stakes (gr. III) Aug. 16.

The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds goes as race 11 (post time 6:10 EDT) atMonmouth Park.

The bay gelding by Tale of the Cat  faces five on the main track and will have John Bisono aboard. Guadalupe Preciado trains the Pennsylvania-bred who has won half of his eight career starts, all around one bend.

Legislate was named South Africa's Horse of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony in Johannesburg on Aug. 13. The Equus Awards annually honors South Africa's equine and human horse racing stars and the 2014 event was once again well attended by members of the racing fraternity from all around the country.

From the yard of champion trainer Justin Snaith, Legislate enjoyed a successful season in 2014. The bay colt owned by Newbury Racing in partnership with Drakenstein Stud and Jack Mitchell reeled off four wins on the trot, culminating in a victory (albeit on disqualification of original winner Wylie Hall) in the grade I Vodacom Durban July.

The colt, who pulled up lame after his July win, was also named champion 3-year-old colt and champion middle distance horse for the South Africa racing season of 2013-2014. Legislate is currently enjoying a break and will be aimed at the Western Cape's top races for older horses in 2015. His sire Dynasty, himself South Africa's Horse of the Year in 2002, is also the sire of Equus champion older female Beach Beauty, and was given a special Outstanding Stallion Achievement award.

Ascot Racecourse announced there will be an eighth group I race at Royal Ascot beginning next year, the name of which will be announced later.

The new six-furlong race for 3-year-olds will be run for £375,000 on the Friday of the Royal Meeting. The Buckingham Palace Stakes will be removed from the program and the race name retained for future use at Ascot. 

"Much discussion has taken place with the British Horseracing Authority and European Pattern Committee to address the decline in quality of European sprinters," said Ascot chief executive Charles Barnett. "As a result, we are very pleased to be able to stage what we hope will now become a significant new option for 3-year-old sprinters at Royal Ascot before they go on to compete against their elders in the Darley July Cup (Eng-I) and beyond. 

Harper Blue Chip will make his first Ontario Sires Stakes start of 2014 Thursday night (Aug. 14) in the first of three C$70,000 Gold divisions for 3-year-old trotting colts at Mohawk. It will also be the first start for the colt since the most lucrative outing of his career, in the $1,006,125 Hambletonian on Aug. 2 at the Meadowlands.

Driven by Brian Sears, Harper Blue Chip, the only Ontario-sired competitor in the talented field, finished third to earn his thrilled connections $106,247. It was more than many of them expected.

"It was quite a decision about whether to go; it's not inexpensive to get in the race. But we agreed that we thought he was fifth best in the field and if he finished there we would make a little money. Some even thought maybe fourth best but when he drew post nine we were hoping for fifth,” explained Howard Pearce, who manages a group of people who make up the colt’s co-owner Landmark 6 Racing Stable.

The weather was far from perfect for the Batavia Downs leg of the New York Sire Stake 3-year-old trotting fillies on Wednesday (Aug. 13) as premature autumnal conditions presented cold temperatures, rain and a track rated as “good”. But the tough got going and in one race, a major upset was the result.

In the first $59,100 NYSS division, Avalicious (RC Royalty-Say Your Prayers) was sent off as the even-money favorite and proved her backers correct as she made a big move at the half and cruised home victorious.

Off the gate, L Dees Scripture (Chris Lems) left for the lead and quickly faced a strong challenge from Oh Sweet Penelope (Dan Daley) up the backside. But just before the quarter that challenger made a break so Lems then guided L Dees Scripture unabated to the half in 1:01.

Istanford, a game front-running winner of the San Clemente Handicap (gr. IIT)when shipped to Del Mar one month ago from Arlington International Racecourse, heads the field for the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks (gr. IT) Aug. 16.

Ten 3-year-old fillies, each carrying 122 pounds, were entered in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile grass test, including three who faced Istanford in the San Clemente. It's no sure bet, though, that the daughter of Istan   will start. Trainer Mike Stidham, concerned about the Oaks' distance, has also entered Istanford in Del Mar's Sandy Blue Handicap at one mile Friday.

Jockey Stewart Elliott suffered a fractured rib when kicked by a horse Aug. 11 in the Del Mar stable area and is expected to be out for up to two weeks. The tentative return target is Aug. 24, Pacific Classic day.

"We had worked some horses and were doing more rounds walking between barns when a horse on a hot walker (machine) kicked out and caught him ," agent Nelson Arroyo said. 

The 49-year-old native of Toronto is in his first season at Del Mar. The rider of 2004 dual classic winner Smarty Jones   has three wins, eight seconds and two thirds from 35 mounts with purse earnings of $343,640. He won the Best Pal Stakes (gr. II) aboard Skyway for trainer Mark Casse.

Stamina will be in high demand Aug. 16 when 11 3-year-olds attempt to stretch out to 11 furlongs in the $200,000Canadian Derby (gr. III) at Northlands Park. Only one in the field, Edison, has gone as far as nine furlongs.

The light went on for Edison in his past two starts, an allowance/optional claiming score and then a victory in the Harry Jeffrey Stakes July 16. The son ofBernardini   has won three of five starts, including his maiden win going 1 1/8 miles on the turf at Gulfstream Park last January. The Harry Jeffrey score was his first start on dirt, and he should receive the nice stalking trip that he prefers in the Canadian Derby.

The Spinmeister is an excellent 4-for-6 at Northlands Park, including his most recent outing, a score in the Count Lathum Handicap at 1 1/16 miles in July by 6 1/2 lengths. In May the Heatseeker   gelding also won the Western Canada Handicap at Northlands, defeating in both races Go Max and Private Money Game, who both show up here. The Spinmeister, from the Rob Chabot stable, is the morning line favorite at 3-1.

When trainer Luis Olivares entered Tackleberry to run on Friday's program at Gulfstream Park, it marked the impending homecoming of one of South Florida's most popular and beloved horses in recent years.

If absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, the 7-year-old gelding will reach his height of popularity when he makes his first start in more than two years in the third race, a very contentious optional claiming allowance. Anticipating the fans' response to Tackleberry's long-awaited return to action, the Gulfstream linemaker has installed the son of Montbrook as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of seven. 

Unraced since finishing fourth in the Charles Town Classic (gr. II) on April 14, 2012, Tackleberry was on the shelf with a pulled muscle and a subsequent tendon issue.

Stella Perdomo's Forte Dei Marmi will try to become the first horse to win the Sky Classic Stakes (Can-IIT) three times when he faces an expected seven other rivals in the 1 1/4-mile turf race Aug. 16 at Woodbine.

As one of five horses to win the Sky Classic twice, millionaire Forte Dei Marmi already figures prominently in the race's history. Last year the son of Selkirkestablished a course record when he completed the Sky Classic in 2:00.12 to win the race for a second straight year, posting a 2 1/4-length victory over Hampstead Heath.

That victory and a narrow win in the race that followed, the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (Can-IT), helped Forte Dei Marmi earn Canada's champion grass horse honors last year.

Three-year-old trotter Father Patrick is ready to get back to action Sunday (Aug. 17) in a division of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes at Tioga Downs in New York, looking to return to his winning ways after going off stride in the Hambletonian, snapping a 15-race unbeaten streak.

 His driver, Yannick Gingras, is ready too.

“Win or lose, I’d always be looking forward to getting back on the track with him,” Gingras said. “He’s a great horse. He’s provided me with great thrills so far, and I’m sure there are plenty more to come.

Champion mare and 2010 Horse of the YearZenyatta never set foot in New York or in the upstate town of Saratoga Springs, but her firstborn son Cozmic One arrived at the renowned spa city's legendary racetrack last month to spend the summer learning about life as a racehorse.

A 2-year-old colt by Bernardini   bred and owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, Cozmic One was first introduced to the saddle and to being ridden late last year at Mayberry Farm. The Ocala, Fla., training center has long been the first stop for the Moss's young Thoroughbreds—as it also was for Coz's dam, Zenyatta—when they are ready to leave the breeding farm in Kentucky.

"Coz," as the dark bay colt is known, was finally shipped north to Saratoga Race Course after spending nearly two months with John Shirreffs at the trainer's downstate base at Belmont Park, beginning his racing education in earnest.

A healthy Normandy Invasion has recovered from a lung infection he came down with in June, and is now back in training at Delaware Park.

The Daily Racing Form reports that the 4-year-old son of Tapit, who finished 10th in the G1 Met Mile in his last start, may return to the races this fall. The colt was transferred to trainer Larry Jones’ barn from Chad Brown after the Met Mile.