Lone Star Million Day
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Lone Star Million Day
Lone Star Park Handicap and More
Memorial Day Monday is Lone Star Million Day at Lone Star Park, the richest annual day in Texas Thoroughbred horseracing consisting of seven exciting stakes races worth over $1 million. The day is highlighted by the $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap.
The 1 1/16-mile race on Monday has a working list of seven probables, with starting highweights of Mythical Power and Awesome Gem. Awesome Gem was second in the $1 million Charles Town Classic in his last start April 17 and looks strongest in the field.
Redding Colliery was third in the $1 million Charles Town Classic in his last start April 17th. He will be a rare Lone Star starter for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who last raced at the track in 2004, when it hosted the Breeders’ Cup. Rosie Napravnik has the mount on Redding Colliery.
Euroears was second to Mythical Power in the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star. It was the first two-turn start for Euroears, a multiple stakes-winning sprinter. He was edged on the wire after setting the pace. Jamie Theriot has the mount Monday.
Euroears and Redding Colliery are both weighted at 117 pounds for the Lone Star, two below the 119 assigned to Awesome Gem and Mythical Power. Others possible include Fifteen Love (117), who was third in the Texas Mile; Golden Yank (114), a four-time stakes winner; and Jonesboro (116), a millionaire who was second to It’s a Bird in last year’s Lone Star.
The Oujia Board is one of seven stakes that will make up the annual Lone Star Million Day card. It is the program’s richest offering for fillies and mares and will be held at a mile on turf.
In the Grade 3, $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff, defending champ Wasted Tears has battled her way back on to the track, recovering from a serious illness and defeated a champion. On Monday, she will be back to defend her title in the Ouija Board and should go as the favorite after upsetting Forever Together in last month’s Grade 2 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.
Wasted Tears, who has won her last five starts, set a course record in the Ouija Board a year ago when she won the race in 1:32.80. She was then pointed for a start in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine at Hollywood Park in July, but those plans had to be scrapped when she contracted a staph infection.
Wasted Tears made her first start since the staph infection on January 28th, winning a $100,000 optional claimer on the turf at Gulfstream Park. From there, she took the Grade 3 Honey Fox there, also on turf, in February. Wasted Tears then traveled to Kentucky and won the Jenny Wiley over champion Forever Together in her last start on April 10th. She earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
Arlington’s Matron Stakes
74th Running Draws Strong Field
This Saturday’s $150,000 Grade 3 Arlington Matron Stakes drew 12 horses for the 1 1/8-mile race on Polytrack, including defending champ Euphony and Grade II winner Tizaqueena. The field also includes Haka, who won the Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland in her last start and last year’s Arlington Oaks winner Peach Brew.
This year’s Matron field appears to be stronger than the one Euphony defeated last year and includes grade II winner Tizaqueena and the consistent Floating Heart and Haka.
Euphony’s win in last year’s Matron was her fifth consecutively for Von Hemel, but she has lost five in a row since then, including three defeats this year at Oaklawn Park. The 5-year-old Forest Wildcat mare hopes to rebound from her fourth-place finish, beaten by seven lengths as the 7-5 choice, in the Bayakoa Stakes on a wet-fast Oaklawn strip April 7.
Regular rider Berry is aboard Euphony, who breaks from post 2. Euphony has won nine of 16 lifetime starts while earning $527,600.
Peach Brew, came from off the pace to register a half-length win in the 1 1/8-mile Arlington Oaks at 8-1 odds last July. The 4-year-old has won twice in seven races since. She returned to Arlington May 9th to run fourth in a one-mile optional claiming allowance race won by Matron foe Home’s the Best.
Euphony and Peach Brew, who will be ridden by Quincy Hamilton, are each assigned 116 pounds, seven fewer than four co-high weights in the field — Tizaqueena, Haka, Souper Miss and Askbut I Won’ttell.
Tizaqueena comes off a fifth-place finish as the favorite in the Distaff Turf Mile, a race she won in 2009, over a yielding course at Churchill Downs on May 1st. The 5-year-old daughter of Tiznow finished second in the Modesty Handicap and fourth in the Beverly D. over the Arlington Park turf course last summer. She has since scored in a pair of stakes at Fair Grounds, most recently in the $100,000 Bayou Handicap on grass prior to her most recent start.
E.T. Baird will ride. Tizaqueena leads the Matron field in lifetime earnings with $545,518 while compiling a 7-3-1 mark in 14 races
Haka, from the Christophe Clement stable, won the Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland April 16th and has been a consistent performer on synthetic tracks. Graded stakes-placed in the Santa Ysabel and the Las Virgenes at Santa Anita in the winter of 2009, the 4-year-old makes her first appearance at Arlington.
Haka will be ridden for the first time by Corey Nakatani.
Floating Heart invades from Kentucky after posting a fifth-place finish in the Bewitch Stakes on the turf at Keeneland in April. The daughter of champion Giant’s Causeway previously ran third in the La Canada and Santa Margarita, both contested over Santa Anita Park’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface, and was a winner in allowance company at Turfway Park’s Polytrack last fall. Jesus Castanon has the mount.
The Arlington Matron, in its 74th running, is one of two grade III stakes on the Arlington Park program and immediately follows the $100,000 Hanshin Cup for older males. The Matron is the 10th race on the card with a probable post of 6:43 p.m. EST.
Philly Park Heats Things Up
$250k Up For Grabs in the My Juliet Stakes
This Saturday, Philadelphia Park will host the 27th running of the My Juliet Stakes, a race named for one of the track’s all-time greats and will be contested on the main track at six furlongs and carries a purse of $250,000.
Leading the way in the My Juliet, is Cat Moves, a Grade 1 winner last year, and heads a strong field of nine fillies and mares. Cat Moves, now a 4 year-old, did not hit the track until April of her 3 year-old season. The lightly raced filly made an immediate impact winning her first two starts by open lengths. She then went to New York and won the Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont Park in just the third start of her career. She finished out her year with a third in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga and a disappointing fifth in the Grade 2 Fitz Dixon Cotillion here at Philly.
The Tale of the Cat filly makes her 2010 debut off a 7 month layoff and Ramon Dominguez comes in for the ride.
Ready to test Cat Moves will be Zayat Stables’ Heart Ashley. The 4 year-old Lion Heart filly was a multiple G3 winner last year, taking the Cicada last March at Aqueduct and the Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Last year, she was not able to handle Cat Moves, finishing behind her in both the Prioress and the Test. She has one start under her belt in 2010, winning a tough money allowance at Keeneland on April 15th. Eclipse award winning trainer Steve Asmussen has yet to name a rider.
If the top two fillies are not at their best, there’s a host of others who appear to have a big chance. Trainer Doug O’Neill will send his Malibu Moon filly, Pinkarella. She’s coming off a six length win in the $250K Sugar Maple Stakes at Charlestown. Travis Dunkelberger is set to ride. Joe Orseno saddles D’wild Ride. The 5 year-old D’wildcat mare is the biggest money earner in the field having banked better than $357,000. Daniel Centeno has the mount on D’wild Ride. The top local lady in the gate will be Jemilyn.
The 5 year-old Good and Tough mare ran big over the track in her last start, a five and a half length win in the Foxy JG Stakes. Trainer Ramon Preciado has named Abel Mariano to ride.
Feel The Need For Speed?
Then Hamazing Destiny is Your Pick
The first and only time he raced on a Friday at Churchill Downs, Hamazing Destiny was amazing. The Salt Lake colt delivered with a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, winning a first-level allowance in what has become the benchmark performance of his 11-race career.
Since that breakout triumph last fall at Churchill, Hamazing Destiny has had something of a letdown in three subsequent races, although two of those races came on wet tracks against rugged stakes company, while the other came when he was away poorly in a March allowance at Oaklawn Park.
The Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas will send out Hamazing Destiny for his first start since an eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs when the 4-year-old colt drops back into the allowance ranks in the featured event on an 11-race twilight program.
Hamazing Destiny, will face six other older horses and will be ridden by Miguel Mena when breaking from post 6 in the Friday feature, a $52,500, second-level allowance that goes at 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track.
Hamazing Destiny was purchased privately after earning a 94 Beyer in winning his career debut at Oaklawn in February 2009. He has been alternately brilliant and disappointing.
Several opponents appear capable of denying Hamazing Destiny a return to the winner’s circle, most notably Belo Sorte, winner of a first-level allowance on May 7th as an odds-on favorite. Trainer Dale Romans said the colt “has just really gotten good” since returning to action in February at Gulfstream Park following a layoff of more than a year.
A Diehl and Captain Cherokee, both make their seasonal debuts, also rate consideration Friday after working sharply toward their respective returns. Shore Do, Lightning Road, and Jardim round out the cast.
Thoroughbred Racing Action
Weekend Stakes Action
With Memorial Day this weekend, racing goes the extra mile with extra stakes races this Monday, including the $300k Lone Star Handicap. Watch these and more all on BetAmerica.com.
Friday – May 28
- Indiana Downs: Shelby County Stakes, $70,000, 3&up, f/m, Indiana-sired, 6f.
- Penn National: Danzig Stakes, $75,000, 3yo, Pennsylvania-bred, 6f.
- Penn National: Wonders Delight Stakes, $75,000, 3yo f, Pennsylvania-bred, 6f.
- Penn National: Changing Times Stakes, $60,000, 3&up, 6f.
Saturday – May 29
- Arlington Park: Arlington Matron Stakes – G3, $150,000, 3&up, f/m, 9f.
- Arlington Park: Hanshin Cup Stakes – G3, $100,000, 3&up, 8f.
- Calder Race Course: Take d’Tour Stakes, $50,000, 3&up, f/m, 8.32f.
- Charles Town: Its Binn Too Long Stakes (R), $50,000, 3yo f, 4.5f.
- Churchill Downs: Aristides Handicap – G3, $100,000, 3&up, 6f.
- Churchill Downs: Dogwood Stakes – G3, $100,000, 3yo f, 8f.
- Colonial Downs: John D. Marsh Stakes, $50,000, 3&up, 5.5f (turf).
- Delaware Park: Joseph French Memorial Stakes, $50,000, 3&up, 8.32f.
- Hollywood Park: Gamely Breeders’ Cup Stakes – G1, $225,000, 3&up, f/m, 9f (turf).
- Indiana Downs: William Henry Harrison Stakes, $70,000, 3&up, Indiana-sired, 6f.
- Lincoln: Journal Star Stakes, $15,000, 3yo, 6f.
- Monmouth Park: John J. Reilly Handicap, $100,000, 3&up, New Jersey-bred, 6f.
- Monmouth Park: Lamplighter Stakes, $100,000, 3yo, 8.5f (turf).
- Philadelphia Park: My Juliet Stakes, $250,000, 3&up, f/m, 6f.
- Prairie Meadows: Jim Rasmussen Memorial, $60,000, 3&up, 8.5f.
- Prairie Meadows: Wild Rose Stakes, $60,000, 3&up, f/m, 8.5f.
- River Downs: Green Carpet Stakes, $50,000, 3yo, Ohio-bred, 8.5f (turf).
- Thistledown: Michael F. Rowland Memorial Handicap, $50,000, 3&up, Ohio-bred, 6f.
- Yavapai Downs: Gerry Howard Inaugural Handicap, $20,000, 3&up, 6f.
Sunday – May 30
- Arapahoe Park: Inaugural Stakes, $30,000, 3yo, 6f.
- Hollywood Park: Manhattan Beach Stakes, $60,000, 3yo f, 6f (turf).
- Monmouth Park: Little Silver Stakes, $100,000, 3yo f, 8f (turf).
- Monmouth Park: Monmouth Beach Stakes, $100,000, 3&up, f/m, 8.32f.
- Ruidoso Downs: Norgor Derby, $40,000, 3yo, 6f.
Monday – May 31
- Arapahoe Park: Ingrid Knotts, $30,000, 3&up, f/m, Colorado-bred, 6f.
- Calder Race Course: Memorial Day Handicap – G3, $100,000, 3&up, 8.5f.
- Canterbury Park: Honor the Hero Turf Express Stakes, $35,000, 3&up, 5f (turf).
- Churchill Downs: Winning Colors Stakes – G3, $100,000, 3&up, f/m, 6f.
- Emerald Downs: Washington State Legislators Stakes, $50,000, 3&up, f/m, 6.5f.
- Fairmount Park: Pollyanna Pixie Stakes, 11,000, 3yo f, 6f.
- Golden Gate Fields: Berkeley Stakes – G3, $100,000, 4&up, 8.5f.
- Hollywood Park: Shoemaker B.C. Mile Stakes – G1, $225,000, 3&up, 8f (turf).
- Hollywood Park: Honeymoon Handicap – G2, $150,000, 3yo f, 9f (turf).
- Hollywood Park: Willard L. Proctor Memorial Stakes, $60,000, 2yo, 5.5f.
- Lincoln: Big Red Mile Stakes, $20,000, 3&up, Nebraska-bred, 8f.
- Lone Star Park: Lone Star Park Handicap – G3, $300,000, 3&up, 8.5f.
- Lone Star Park: Ouija Board Distaff – G3, $200,000, 3&up, f/m, 8f (turf).
- Lone Star Park: Dallas Turf Cup Stakes, $150,000, 3&up, 8.5f (turf).
- Lone Star Park: Cinemine Breeders’ Cup Stakes, $75,000, 3yo f, 7f.
- Lone Star Park: USA Breeders’ Cup Stakes, $75,000, 3yo, 8.5f (turf).
- Lone Star Park: Valid Expectations Stakes, $75,000, 3&up, f/m, 6f.
- Lone Star Park: Carter McGregor Jr. Memorial Stakes, $50,000, 3&up, 6f.
- Monmouth Park: Eatontown Stakes – G3, $150,000 3&up, f/m, 8.5f (turf).
- Monmouth Park: Just Smashing Stakes, $100,000, 3yo f, 6f.
- Mountaineer: Decoration Day Handicap, $75,000, 3&up, f/m, 8f (turf).
- Mountaineer: Memorial Day Handicap, $75,000, 3&up, 8f (turf).
- Mountaineer: Ohio Valley Handicap, $75,000, 3&up, f/m, 6f.
- Prairie Meadows: Bob Bryant Stakes, $60,000, 3yo f, Iowa-bred, 6f.
- Prairie Meadows: Gray’s Lake Stakes, $60,000, 3yo, c/g, Iowa-bred, 6f.
Harness Stakes Action
This Weekend’s Stakes Action
Georgian Downs and Hoosier Park each boast $500k Open Pace events on Saturday. The Big M has two New Jersey Sire Stakes races worth $200k each. Watch and Wager on these Harness stakes races this week:
Friday – May 28
- Meadowlands: NJSS, $65,000, 3 yo, C&G Trot
Saturday – May 29
- Balmoral: Cardinal, $7,500, 3 yo, C&G Pace
- Georgia Downs: Upper Canadian Cup, $500,000, 3 yo, Open Pace
- Georgia Downs: Earl Rowe Memorial, $100,000, 3 yo & Up, Open Trot
- Meadowlands: NJSS, $200,000, 3 yo, C&G Pace
- Meadowlands: NJSS, $200,000, 3 yo, Filly Pace
- Pocono Downs: James Lynch, $60,000, 3 yo, Filly Pace
- Tioga Downs: M&J Oil &Lube, $7,500, 3 yo, Filly Pace
- Hoosier Park: Hoosier Cup, $500,000, 3 yo, Open Pace
- Hoosier Park: Indiana SS, $40,000, 3 yo, C&G Pace
- Hoosier Park: Indiana SS, $40,000, 3 yo, Filly Pace
- Hoosier Park: Indiana SS, $40,000, 3 yo, C&G Trot
- Hoosier Park: Indiana SS, $40,000, 3 yo, Filly Trot
Sunday – May 30
- Balmoral: Violet, $50,000, 3 yo, Filly Trot
- Tioga Downs: Empire Breeders Cup, $250,000, 3 yo, Filly Pace
- Tioga Downs: Empire Breeders Cup, $250,000, 3 yo, C&G Pace
- Tioga Downs: Morrisville Clge Sale, $7,500, 3 yo, C&G Trot
Monday – May 31
- Vernon Downs: Empire Breeders Cup, $250,000, 3 yo, Filly Trot
- Vernon Downs: Empire Breeders Cup, $250,000, 3 yo, C&G Trot
Posted by Jared Alexander
Brass Hat Defends Louisville Handicap Title
