Racing News

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella had good news for Beholder fans the morning of Oct. 21—the champion racemare is "back in the game."

The day after her Oct. 19 arrival atKeeneland from Southern California for a run in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), the Spendthrift Farm runner missed training after spiking a minor temperature of 101.3 degrees, just slightly above her usual 100.3 degrees. The rise was cause for concern given her history—the winner of the 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and 2013 Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) missed the Distaff last year due to a fever and lung infection.

Say this much about Bloomfieldcan’tifly: she has quite the fashion sense.

The trotter found herself dressed for success Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 20), festooned in pink to promote Yonkers Raceway’s ”Racing for a Cure.” 

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Yonkers horsemen are once again helping with this worthy initiative, This Saturday evening (Oct. 24), ”Racing for a Cure” finds any number of Yonkers’ trainers and drivers--along with other prominent members and businesses involved in the harness industry--pitching in, with all funds raised benefitting the Frisco, Texas-based National Breast Cancer Foundation (www.nbcf.org)

Mongolian Saturday, runner-up in the Woodford Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (gr. IIIT), breezed three furlongs in :37 2/5 at Keeneland Race Course Oct. 20 in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT).

Santiago Aragon, assistant to trainer Enebish Ganbat, was aboard for the work shortly before the track closed for workouts at 10 a.m. (ET).

The 5-year-old gelded son of Any Given Saturday, whose owner Ganbaatar Dagvadorj and trainer are from Mongolia, was purchased for $60,000 from the Gainesway consignment to the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale. 

Chasemore Farm's Mutatis Mutandis, third in the Oct. 3 Flower Bowl (gr. IT) in her U.S. debut and hoping for a spot in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (gr. IT), worked a half-mile on the dirt in :48 1/5 under jockey Joe Bravo Oct. 20 at Keeneland.

"This was the first time she has ever worked on the dirt," said Michaela Carter, assistant to trainer Ed Walker.

The 4-year-old Mastercraftsman filly posted fractions of :12 1/5, :24 1/5, and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.

A run in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) is not off the table for champion Beholder, whose initial tests came back with encouraging results after the Richard Mandella trainee spiked a slight fever and did not train the morning of Oct. 20 at Keeneland.

Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said the 5-year-old racemare's white blood cell count was only slightly elevated and the 101.3 degree temperature she had in the early morning hours of her first day in Kentucky was likely caused by "shipping type stress" rather than infection. Mandella said Beholder's normal temperature is 100.3.

Although mulitple graded stakes winner Ageless is continuing to recover from an injury sustained in her dramatic victory in the Oct. 9 Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes, the 6-year-old mare could still run in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT).

The daughter of Successful Appeal  returned to trainer Arnaud Delacour's barn Oct. 19 at Keeneland after undergoing minor surgery and spending time at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, but the trainer said the mare's status for the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) won't be known until closer to the Oct. 31 race.

Champion racemare Beholder missed her first day of training for the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) at KeenelandOct. 20, when she spiked a slight temperature after shipping from California to Kentucky Oct. 19.

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella said the 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes had a temperature of 101.3, while "her normal is 100.3."

Beholder, winner of the 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and the 2013 Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) missed last year's Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff with a fever; she was found to have a mild lung infection at that time but recovered after two months on the sidelines. 

Monday, Oct. 19, was a busy morning for Bill Mott as the trainer oversawKeeneland workouts that included two hopefuls for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at the Lexington track Oct. 30-31.

Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) contender Harmonize, with Rodolphe Brisset aboard, worked in company with grade I winner Seek Again (jockey Julien Leparoux up), getting the four furlongs in :48 1/5. The 2-year-old Scat Daddy   filly went in fractions of :13 and :25 2/5 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00 2/5and six furlongs in 1:14 3/5.

Champion Beholder arrived in the bluegrass on a sun-splashed afternoon Oct. 19, 11 days before her engagement in the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) and a showdown with Triple Crown winnerAmerican Pharoah.

The 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes shipped via Tex Sutton on a flight from trainer Richard Mandella's Southern California base, and landed at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington at 1:04 p.m. EDT. From there, she took a short ride aboard a Sallee Van over to Rice Road and Barn 60, which will be her home leading up to the World Championships. She will have one work at Keeneland, having completed her final California move Oct. 15.

Wakizashi Hanover turned in a sharp tune-up for the Breeders Crown when he won effortlessly in Tuesday’s (Oct. 6)  Keystone Classic at The Meadows. Yankee Bounty took the other division of the $69,750 stakes for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers.

Wakizashi Hanover ranks third among all North American Standardbreds in seasonal earnings, and he’s seventh in the current Hambletonian/Breeders Crown poll. While he’s used to racing for richer purses, trainer Joann Looney-King said the owners of the Dragon Again-Western Gesture gelding — the principals of Tri County Stable — deliberately picked the Keystone Classic for his final Breeders Crown prep.

“This was what we did instead of qualifying — $34,000 is better than nothing,” she said. “The owners stuck with their schedule. He’s done enough traveling. He’s still 3, and we want him to last a while longer.”

The red-hot George Napolitano Jr. broke his own record for most driving victories in one season at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono when he guided Monopoly Blue Chip to victory in the 13th race of the Tuesday night program, his seventh win of the night and more importantly his 348th of the racing season at The Downs, eclipsing his old standard set in 2004.

Napolitano started the night with 341 Pocono wins, and dashed home first in the fourth race, then put his head down and said, "Let's get this over with" and proceeded to win the seventh, eighth, ninth, 11th, and 12th races before setting the record in race 13. And would there be a better-named horse, given his domination of the winner's circle earlier, to break the record than Monopoly Blue Chip?

Napolitano will soon be able to post a "magic number" on how many wins he needs to mathematically lock up the title for the Pocono meet, which has 14 cards to go, as at press time he has a 348-210 victory edge over second-place Simon Allard (who got the winner in race 10, between GNap's consecutive triples). The win crown will be Napolitano's fourth straight at Pocono and ninth all-time, the latter number giving him the all-time outright lead in driving win titles locally, as he and Bill Lambertus both won eight dash-winning crowns prior to this season.

Wiggle It Jiggleit, the No. 1-ranked horse in harness racing, will headline the list of entrants set to go postward during the stakes filled card on Friday (October 23) at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino.

The Circle City Stakes for the 3-year-old competitors will highlight Friday’s 13-race card while the Madison County Stakes for the 2-year-old competitors will be featured on Saturday (October 24) at Hoosier Park.

Yannick Gingras will have nine drives in Saturday night’s 12 Breeders Crown finals at Woodbine Racetrack as he looks to continue his hot streak in harness racing’s championship event.

Gingras has won 10 Breeders Crown titles in the past three years, including four last year at the Meadowlands. He captured three trophies each of the previous two years, in 2013 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono and in 2012 at Woodbine. Gingras’ streak began five years after he won his first --- and only other --- Crown with 50-1 longshot Southwind Serena at the Meadowlands.

Tim Tetrick is second to Gingras in the past three years with eight Breeders Crown trophies. No other driver has more than five.

Argentina-bred Ordak Dan has settled in well at his temporary home in theKeeneland stable area and is ready to face a tough field in the Breeders' Cup Longines Turf (gr. IT).

Saturnino Sixto Erro's 7-year-old son ofHidden Truth arrived in Kentucky in late September after spending seven days in quarantine in Miami. Under the care of Lexington-based trainer Ignacio Correas, Ordak Dan was the only horse to work a mile Oct. 18 at Keeneland, going in an easy 1:41 2/5.

Trainer Charlie Dunavant collected a trio of big wins Sunday (Oct. 18) as Cicada's Song, Ah Me and Elton J all scored divisional titles in the $363,000 Virginia-bred Champions Day card at Nelson County's Oak Ridge Estate. A total of eight championship races were contested that featured 2- and 3-year-old pacers and trotters of both sexes.

Cicada's Song continued a torrid month of October by scoring an easy wire-to-wire victory in the $43,075 freshman filly trot over two others. Never threatened, she crossed in a leisurely 2:07.3 under the guidance of driver Carlo Poliseno. The Dusty Winner filly was able to squeeze in a track record performance at Harrington Wednesday in between her Oak Ridge prep a week ago and Sunday's triumph. Cicada's Song covered that $20,000 Delaware state-bred prep in 1:59.2 on Oct. 14 and headlines this week's $100,000 final. She had a pair of prep wins earlier this month at the same two tracks and is now 6-for-6 in her young career.

Ah Me and Elton J both wired the field in their respective finals. The former breezed to a 2:04 triumph in the $45,600 3-year-old filly trot while the latter had to rebound quickly after breaking stride before the start in the $46,150 freshman colt/gelding trot. Elton J regained the trotting gait and fended off a pesky Speedy Taxi by a length in 2:03.1. Poliseno completed a driving triple by directing both to victory.

Champion Judy the Beauty tuned up for the defense of her title in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (gr. I) by working five furlongs in company in 1:01 4/5 at Keeneland Oct. 19.

With Kieren Fallon aboard, the 2014 Eclipse Award winner as champion female sprinter started two lengths in back of Kitten's Top Cat and finished a length in front with fractions of :13 3/5, :25 3/5, and :37 3/5; she galloped out six furlongs in 1:16 4/5.

Jimmy Takter made his first appearance in the Breeders Crown in 1986, but it was seven years before he got to hoist a trophy. Takter, who trains and sometimes also drives, had two second-place finishes and one third-place effort in eight championship starts before driving Gleam to victory in the 1993 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female trotters at Florida’s Pompano Park.

And if the waiting was the hardest part, it also made the triumph all the more satisfying.