Take Me Serious will be looking to stretch her speed around two turns Tuesday, when she starts as the probable favorite in the $55,000 More Than Even Stakes at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla.
The one-mile race is for fillies and mares bred in Oklahoma and honors the multiple stakes-winning mare who was based in Oklahoma.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Jon Court will be retiring after Sunday’s card at Oaklawn Park. The 63-year-old native of Gainesville, Fla., has four mounts, capped by League of Legends in the sixth race.
Court said he announced his decision Monday night. During his career, he’s been a fixture in the Midwest, and rode in Southern California from 2004-08. Court, who began riding in 1980, had won 4,263 races from 35,355 mounts in North America through Thursday for mount earnings of $114 million. In an overseas venture, he captured the Japan Dirt Cup in 2003 with Fleetstreet Dancer.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park on Sunday will close a statistically satisfying meet, with a variety of barometers showing participation increases from patrons, owners, and horses, according to track president Lou Cella.
Looking ahead, Oaklawn plans to make some slight changes to next season’s calendar, which Cella said is agreed to by horsemen and is now subject to final approval from the Arkansas Racing Commission.
Doncho began his career in sparkling fashion, winning two six-furlong races at the Fair Grounds with identical 94 Beyer Speed Figures.
On Sunday, Doncho looks to rebound from his first career loss when he meets seven other 3-year-olds going six furlongs in the $150,000 Gold Fever Stakes at the Belmont at the Big A meet.
The $150,000 License Fee will be run earlier on the card.
Trained by Michelle Lovell, Doncho finished fourth in his stakes debut last month in the Lafayette, a seven-furlong race at Keeneland.
The already lofty expectations surrounding the 3-year-old Laulne were raised April 7, when the filly rallied to win her 2024 debut in the Angels Flight Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.
Jockey Antonio Fresu told trainer Phil D’Amato after the race that Laulne would be even better in her second start of the year, which will occur in Sunday’s Grade 3 Senorita Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
“I remember him specifically saying that she would improve a lot,” D’Amato said Thursday. “Hopefully, he’s right.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – That ear-to-ear smile that can light up a room belies what jockey Tyler Gaffalione is really feeling. For even when he wins, Gaffalione isn’t completely satisfied.
“I’m never happy with where I’m at. I always want to get better, want to improve,” Gaffalione, 29, said this week. “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.
“I can’t tell you how many races I’ve won where I don’t want to watch it just because it was not pretty,” Gaffalione added. “Some of my biggest wins.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Law Professor will make his first start for new connections on Sunday when he meets fellow Grade 2-winning millionaire Silver Prospector in the $200,000 Lake Ouachita at Oaklawn Park.
The 1 1/16-mile race for 4-year-olds and up closes out the meet. It’s part of an 11-race card capped by the $125,000 Trail’s End, a tradition-rich starter allowance at 1 3/4 miles.
The Lake Ouachita field of eight includes defending winner Ain’t Life Grand, wire-to-wire threat Frosted Departure, and four-time stakes winner Strong Tide.
Fallen Angel was deliberately given a brief four-race campaign as a 2-year-old in Europe last year, a season that ended with a Group 1 win in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland last September.
She did not start in the major stakes at Newmarket, England, last fall, or at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita in November despite holding a fees-paid berth. Instead, the long-range focus was Sunday’s Group 1 English 1000 Guineas for 3-year-old fillies at a mile at Newmarket.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mike Repole last Saturday stood outside trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn to talk about his Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness after he came off the track following a training session. The mood was much more jovial than when Repole stood in a similar spot 51 weeks earlier.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Several of Woodbine’s top sprinters will meet in Sunday’s $100,000 Thorncliffe Stakes, including Rockcrest, who could be peaking in the 5 1/2-furlong overnight stakes on Tapeta.
Owned and trained by Nigel Burke, Rockcrest was the divisional leader last spring, during which he won a conditioned allowance/optional claimer and the Pink Lloyd Stakes. He tailed off late in the fall and got a break over the winter before starting twice at Gulfstream.
