Wednesday's (April 9) edition of Racing Roundup features a results story from Buffalo Raceway.
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Gary Barber and WinStar Farm’s Laugh Track, who has failed to duplicate his second-place finish in the 2013 Xpressbet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) in two subsequent starts, returns to his favorite Polytack surface in the $175,000Commonwealth Stakes (gr. III) at Keeneland April 12. The son of Distorted Humor , bred by WinStar, has scored four victories from six starts on Polytrack, and has a win and a second in his two starts at Keeneland. His other synthetic appearances came at Woodbine.
Although he was a well-beaten fifth (placed fourth via disqualification) in the grade II Alysheba Stakes in his only start on dirt, trainer Mark Casse ran Laugh Track in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint off his second in the Stoll Kenon Phoenix Stakes (gr. III) at Keeneland. At Santa Anita Park Nov. 2, he came flying from 11th to be beaten a neck by Secret Circle at 16-1. 
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G. Watts Humphrey's 5-year-old mareCentre Court will attempt become only the second repeat winner of the Jenny Wiley Stakes (gr. IT) at Keeneland when she takes on nine rivals in the 1 1/16-mile turf race April 12. The only dual Jenny Wiley victor wasIntercontinental, who captured the race in 2004-05. The $300,000 contest is the second of three grade I stakes on Saturday's 12-race program that begins at 12:35 p.m. ET. The Jenny Wiley will go as the 10th race with a 5:13 post time. Centre Court, a daughter of Smart Strike —Let, by A.P. Indy, enters the Jenny Wiley with a total of six graded stakes victories to her credit and seven wins overall from 15 starts with earnings of $909,845. The dark bay or brown mare posted three uncharacteristic off-the-board efforts last year, however, after which trainer Rusty Arnold decided to investigate whether she suffered from a physical issue.
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The $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II)April 12 at Oaklawn Park has been on Willis Horton's mind for Will Take Chargeever since his blaze-faced chestnut sewed up last year's Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old male. "It's been on my radar all the time," the Arkansas native said April 9, the day Will Take Charge drew post 2 against six others for Saturday's Oaklawn 'Cap. "It's here in my home state and it's a big race, too, and that's the reason. He's got a lot of fans here." A strapping son of Unbridled's Song, Will Take Charge is a two-time winner at Oaklawn, where he'll run as the 123-pound hghweight under regular rider Luis Saez. He took the Smarty Jones Stakes and the Rebel Stakes (gr. II) early last season before going on to bigger and better races for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, acing the Travers (gr. I), Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II), and Clark Handicap (gr. I) along with a runner-up finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) by a nose.
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This Week: Blue Chip Matchmaker and George Morton Levy series fourth legs, Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, N.Y. Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit at Yonkers this week features three $40,000 divisions on Friday (April 11) in the fourth round of the Blue Chip Matchmaker series for open pacing mares. The Saturday (April 12) card at Yonkers will see three $50,000 divisions in the fourth round of the George Morton Levy series for open pacers.
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Overnight Hit overtook front trotting Kelsey’s Commando on the final turn and then sped to a 1:59 success in the Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund (DSBF) 3-Year-Old Filly Trot final, the second of four $100,000 DSBF finals this week at Dover Downs on Tuesday, April 8 at Dover Downs. Overnight Hit has now won four of nine lifetime races with two second and two thirds. She has banked $189,210 in her short career.
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Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan will get his 2014 campaign started April 11, when he takes on six foes in the $300,000 Maker's 46 Mile at Keeneland in his first start of the year. Winner of a Keeneland record five graded stakes for trainer Charlie LoPresti, Morton Fink's homebred Wiseman's Ferry gelding faces the likes of Grade 1 winner Lochte, 2013 Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Za Approval, and Reload, who is undefeated in two starts on the grass. "You have to get started somewhere and you can't worry about getting beat," LoPresti said. "In a perfect world, I'd like to have another five-eighths work, but with the weather that we had, that was the hand I was dealt."
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Upon reading the rapidly spreading news of the PETA undercover video and its controversial behind-the-scenes look at the Steve Asmussen stable, D.G. Van Clief, Jr. experienced a vivid flashback to the morning after the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Championship held at Arlington Park. “I had been asked to talk to a Chamber of Commerce group in Chicago that morning,” said Van Clief, who was then president of the Breeders’ Cup. “When I walked out of the room and turned my cellphone back on, it just lit up. We knew there was something funny with the pick six pool the night before, but we hadn’t drawn any conclusions.” By the next day preliminary conclusions had been drawn, and they weren’t pretty. Someone had manipulated a Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick 6 ticket that ended up as the lone winner of the pool, good for a $3.1 million payoff. Subsequent investigations by various law enforcement agencies discovered an Autotote employee behind the scheme. Five months later, Van Clief was able to announce that the holders of the 78 legitimate winning tickets would be receiving their rightful payoffs of about $40,000, with interest.
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The freshman pacer White Bliss may have garnered all of the attention last fall due to his pure white appearance, but at The Meadows, an unusual trotter has picked up quite a following thanks to her “fancy” look. Fancy Sierra Star is a rarity in her own right. She is a pinto Standardbred, getting her coloring from her second dam. A daughter of Sierra Kosmos out of a Lark’s Crown mare, the second dam is listed as “breeding not proven” in the official United States Trotting Association log.
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Sunnyhillboy, a leading contender for the Crabbie's Grand National at Aintree on April 5, is to miss the race. The JP McManus-owned chaser is already part of National lore having failed by the smallest margin in the 166 runnings of the race when going down by a nose to Neptune Collonges in 2012. A general 20-1 chance for this year's race, the first to be run for a purse of £1 million, Sunnyhillboy was one of the potential mounts for champion jockey Tony McCoy.
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Although he figures to be challenged early in the Appleton Stakes (gr. IIIT)March 29 at Gulfstream Park, Mr. Onlineis the 5-2 morning-line choice to return to his winning ways when he faces an expected nine other older horses in the one-mile turf race. Tim O'Donohue's Mr. Online saw a three-race win streak come to an end when he finished a close second toReload in the Canadian Turf Stakes (gr. IIIT) Feb. 22 at Gulfstream. Before losing that one-mile turf race by a neck, the 5-year-old son of Silent Name registered three straight wins, including a victory in the El Prado Stakes Dec. 28 on yielding turf at Gulfstream. Mr. Online typically races on or near the lead and he will not be alone in that running style Saturday as Five Iron, Cozzetti, Grand Tito, andTetradrachm also figure to challenge early. They even could be joined in the early battle by some others.
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The 19th renewal of the $10 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) March 29 comes with a noticeable absence: Despite Animal Kingdom 's victory 12 months ago, there is no United States-based runner in the race previously won by American-trained horses nine times in 18 editions. Instead, three lone pennant-bearers will contest undercard races, albeit races of significant value. And with two of them due to run on turf, the American challenge is about as unfamiliar as it gets. All this unfolds on a stage where American-trained horses have won more races in 18 years than any other nation, including the host (six wins). The collective U.S. haul of victories exceeds those posted by Britain, Ireland and France combined (three).
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Racing fans of every generation will no longer be seeing the familiar blue and white colors of long time fan favorite and Hall of Famer Catello Manzi behind the starting gate. During the course of a 40-year career, Manzi has endured plenty of hard knocks—more broken bones that he can remember and multiple concussions. For Manzi, all of these things have been just obstacles to be endured and overcome. But last year two very serious accidents, one on the heels of another, caused a permanent change in Manzi's way of life. In the first, on Sept. 6, 2013, at Freehold Raceway, Manzi fractured bones in his pelvis, bones that had previously remained intact. As he has always done, Manzi recuperated and kept his focus on getting back to his higher calling, driving horses. And he did return to driving, winning a race on his first day back.
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Top sprinter Wild Dude heads a competitive field of eight older horses as he seeks to rebound in the $200,000Potrero Grande Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita Park April 12.
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Chantal Sutherland-Kruse is coming home. The veteran jockey will ride full-time at Woodbine Racetrack this season just 18 months after retiring at the Toronto oval. But the 38-year-old Winnipeg native said that announcement came at a very busy and hectic time in her life. “I was a little worn out from riding, I was getting married and everything was happening all at once,” she said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I just needed to take some time off . . . bottom line, I needed a mental break. “I relaxed, I did some courses and learned more about myself and realized how much I loved racing and always want to be a part of it. And I missed home (Woodbine), I wanted to come home and give it another shot.”
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Dr. Charles Fager, the world-renowned neurosurgeon who saved the life of John Nerud and for whom the immortal Dr. Fager was named, died peacefully at his Boston suburb home April 8. He was 90. The name Fager has remained prominent through Dr. Fager's son Jeff, who is the chairman of CBS News and executive producer of "60 Minutes." Dr. Fager continued to perform surgery until the age of 73 and was still seeing patients when he was in his mid-to-late 80s.
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Duet will be looking for the second trophy of her career when she suits up in Friday night’s (April 11) featured California Sire Stakes for owner/trainer Rick Cisco and pilot Tim Maier. The daughter of Disco Devil posed for pictures following the February 14 added-money gathering for this division, which features a very contentious group of 3-year-old pacing distaffers. “I got this filly last summer and broke her,” Cisco related when asked about the bay miss. “She needed some time, so I was patient and waited with her. Luke Plano qualified her and told me she was ready for stakes company, so that’s where we went.
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With the Championship Meet at The Meadowlands nearly upon us, The Road to The Meadowlands Pace has begun. The 2014 Road to the Pace is quite different than the 2013 edition. One year ago, just 30 horses were nominated with 29 still eligible after the first sustaining payment. A large factor in this was the presence of Captaintreacherous. With no standout performer and changes made to the payment schedule of the Meadowlands Pace in 2014, 59 three year olds were nominated to The Meadowlands' signature event and 56 of those 59 made the March sustaining payment. Each week leading up to the event, Director of Racing Operations and Oddsmaker Darin Zoccali will publish an installment of "The Road to The Meadowlands Pace,” with the first installment available today. The publication features a top 10 of Meadowlands Pace contenders, each of which is assigned a spring-book morning line for the event and includes updated information regarding earnings, lifetime mark, trainer, driver and also includes some of Zoccali's thoughts on each horse.
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Tuesday's (April 8) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Vernon Downs.
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Close Hatches will try to add a third top-level victory to her resume in the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I), in which she meets four opponents, including last year's winner On Fire Baby, April 11 at Oaklawn Park. Juddmonte Farms' 4-year-old daughter of First Defence scored a comfortable win at the Arkansas oval in her most recent start. Leading all the way, she captured the March 15 Azeri Stakes (gr. III), run at the Apple Blossom's 1 1/16-mile distance, by 1 1/4 lengths. It was her first start in 4 1/2 months since finishing second to champion Beholder in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park.
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BloodHorse.com will offer the full action of Dubai World Cup day through a live stream of the March 29 races at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. The marquee event on a card of eight group races worth $27 million is the $10 millionDubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (UAE-I).
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Chocolate Delight is a pleasure for the Hegdal family, whether he is on the racetrack or in the show ring. The 4-year-old gelding trotter, who races Sunday in the second round of the Bobby Weiss Series at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, captured last year’s New Jersey Futurity for trainer Oyvind Hegdal and his wife, Camilla, who owns the horse. Chocolate Delight also won numerous ribbons for the Hegdals’ daughter, Victoria, in competitions.
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Dave Yarock and Bob Davis each were victorious in their respective $6,000 divisions in the third leg of the North American Amateur Drivers Association’s spring trotting series at Yonkers Raceway on Thursday (March 27). It was the first win for each driver in the six-week series. In his event, Yarock and his own Nowerland Nathan left softly from the two home and he was content to let Georgie Newell and Swift Kid take command and Bob Heckhoff and Tremendous Hit fall into the two hole in front of him.
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Excitement is in the air as 28 nominations from the top 4-year-old pacers in North America were received for the Sept. 21 harness celebration at Hippodrome 3R for the renewal of the Prix d'Été. The race will be the richest purse for 4-year-old pacers in 2014 at C$200,000. In fact, nine of the top ten 3-year-old money winning colts and geldings of 2013 were nominated. The field is led by Vegas Vacation, trained by Casie Coleman and a winner of $971,632 in 2013 with a record of 10-4-1 in 20 starts. He was the winner of the 2013 Little Brown Jug and took home the prestigious O’Brien Award for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings. His impressive stablemate Lucan Hanover is also nominated.
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Last year the name of Bruce Aldrich, Jr. forged its way into racing hierarchy. Sure, he had won many driving titles at Monticello Raceway over the first decade of the new century and had more than 4,000 wins in his career, but last season he became more known nationally when he reined 645 winners and finished tied for second in races won on the continent. And again this year Aldrich is a player.
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