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Calder’s Summit of Speed: Richest Day for Sprinters
By GREG MELIKOV
The nation’s richest day for thoroughbred sprinters is Saturday at Calder Race Course where the eighth Summit of Speed features eight stakes worth $2 million.
The Smile Sprint Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs is one of two stakes with $500,000 purses. Two 4-year-olds regarded as America’s leading sprinters are scheduled to meet for the first time in the 24th running of the Grade 2 race honoring the top sprinter in ’86.
Smoky Stover will be seeking his fifth straight victory of the year. All four wins by this Florida bred were registered in California, including his latest in the Potrero Grande Breeders’ Cup on April 7 at Santa Anita.
Fabulous Strike also goes for five in row, coming off a triumph in the Aristides Breeders’ Cup on June 2 at Churchill Downs.
Another 4-year-old, Mach Ride, will represent Calder’s “home team†in the Smile after posting an impressive 7 ½-length victory in the $50,000 Champali Stakes on June 16. Last year, he won the Valid Video before running second in the $300,000 Carry Back Stakes for 3-year-olds.
This year’s Carry Back at the South Florida track attracted Teuflesberg, the Kentucky Derby also-ran that captured the seven-furlong Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes Day. He turns back to six furlongs, a distance he was successful at twice last year.
Other contenders include Calder-based Finallymadeit, who won the Valid Video on June 17; and Principle Secret, the runner-up beaten a neck in the Laz Barrera Memorial at Hollywood Park on May 20.
The 23rd Princess Rooney for 3-year-old fillies and mares will feature a talented 5-year-old going six furlongs in the Grade 1 contest worth $500,000. Indian Flare captured the Vagrancy Handicap on June 17 at Belmont after running second two months earlier in the Las Cienagas at Santa Anita.
Pussycat Doll was scheduled to ship in from the West Coast, but trainer Bob Baffert changed his mind. “We were going to come, but I think six furlongs will be a bit short for her. It really doesn’t suit her and I think it will be asking a lot of her.â€
Indian Flare, however, will face a top contender in Miss Macy Sue, winner of three straight stakes at three different tracks, including the Winning Colors on May 28 at Churchill Downs.
The $300,000 Azalea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs will feature Sindy With an S, who scored in the Manhattan Stakes on June 2 at Hollywood Park.
Two challengers are coming out of the Open Mind Stakes on May 12 at Churchill Downs: Miss A. Bomb, who rallied in the stretch for third, and Sheets, who finished fifth before capturing an allowance race on June 1 at Louisville.
Four other stakes offer purses of $100,000 each. They include a pair of five-furlong races on the turf: the Bob Humphrey for 3-year-olds and up, and the Distaff for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.
The other two stakes are at six furlongs on the main track: the Criterium for 2-year-olds and the J J’s Dream for 2-year-old fillies.
Greg Melikov has been handicapping and writing about horses for decades. His articles and columns appear in print and on the Internet around the world. Greg is a retired newspaperman who became a racing fan at 13 when he saw 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation, his favorite horse, whip 20 older horses at old Arlington Park.
Greg Melikov has been handicapping and writing about horses for decades. His articles and columns appear in print and on the Internet around the world. Greg is a retired newspaperman who became a racing fan at 13 when he saw 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation, his favorite horse, whip 20 older horses at old Arlington Park.
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