Mon, 04/10/2023 - 13:10

Lone Star meet opens without out-of-state wagering

 Eyeing Clover is a candidate for the Texas Derby on May 29 at Lone Star.
Coady Photography
Eyeing Clover is a candidate for the Texas Derby on May 29 at Lone Star.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Lone Star Park’s signal will not be exported to out-of-state locales when the track opens its 44-date meet Thursday night, according to a representative of a major account-wagering platform. The season is set to run through July 4.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 13:05

Last-race allowance caps pick six with $67,000 carryover

Nothing Better defeats Anaconda in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship last November. The top five finishers from that race meet in Thursday's final race.
Susie Raisher/NYRA
Nothing Better defeats Anaconda in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship last November. The top five finishers from that race meet in Thursday's final race.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A stakes-caliber turf sprint allowance caps Thursday’s eight-race card at Aqueduct and a pick six sequence that begins the program with a $66,705 carryover after the wager went unhit following Lord Miles’s $120.20 upset in Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial.

The program begins at 1:20 p.m., the pick six starts on race 3 (2:24 p.m.)

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 12:30

Sovereign Awards: Moira, Lady Speightspeare top finalists

Emily Shields
Moira won both the Queen's Plate (above) and the Woodbine Oaks by wide margins in 2022.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Queen’s Plate winner Moira and Lady Speightspeare are finalists in multiple categories at the 2022 Sovereign Awards ceremony at the Universal Eventspace in the Toronto suburb of Vaughan on Thursday.

Moira, who won both the Plate and Woodbine Oaks decisively, is a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly, along with Sister Seagull and Souper Hoity Toity. Moira is also a finalist in the female turf category, along with Lady Speightspeare and Fev Rover.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 12:15

With Modern Games in mix, short field on tap for Maker's Mark Mile

Modern Games wins BC Mile at KEE Nov 5 2022
Barbara Livingston
Modern Games is 3 for 3 in North America with wins in the Breeders' Cup Mile (above), Woodbine Mile, and BC Juvenile Turf.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Five or six opponents is all that Keeneland racing officials are expecting to face Modern Games – but would it really matter if it was 25 or 26?

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 11:55

After Lafayette win, Corona Bolt will go next in Pat Day or Woody Stephens

Coady Photography
All of Corona Bolt's wins, including this one in the Lafayette Stakes last Friday, have come between six and seven furlongs.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Corona Bolt, who remained unbeaten around one turn with a win in the $400,000 Lafayette Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters on opening day at Keeneland, will likely make his next start on the undercard of a Triple Crown race.

The potential spots for the Stonestreet Farm colorbearer would be the Grade 2, $500,000 Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 6, or the Grade 1, $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes at seven furlongs on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 10.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 11:50

Hurricane Dream headed back to stakes after salty allowance win

Coady Photography
Hurricane Dream wins a tough allowance on opening day of the Keeneland meet, earning a 97 Beyer Figure.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – European import Hurricane Dream will be headed back to stakes company after a 4 1/2-length victory in a $140,000 turf race Friday at Keeneland that was an allowance race in name only.

“I thought it was not that different from a Grade 3, you know?” said Graham Motion, who trains the gelding for Team Valor, et al.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 11:45

Hernandez, D'Amato lead standings entering break

Juan Hernandez has won 63 races, including 13 stakes, through Sunday's racing at Santa Anita.
Benoit Photo
Juan Hernandez has won 63 races, including 13 stakes, through Sunday's racing at Santa Anita.

Jockey Juan Hernandez and trainer Phil D’Amato led their respective standings through Sunday for the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

Hernandez, 31, has ridden 63 winners, well clear of runner-up Flavien Prat with 31. Hernandez has 13 stakes wins, compared to 11 for Prat.

D’Amato, 47, has won 32 races, five more than Bob Baffert, who has won 12 stakes to lead in that category, one more than D’Amato.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 11:45

Santa Anita cuts purses for remainder of meeting

ARCADIA, Calif. – Facing a seven-figure overpayment, Santa Anita has cut overnight purses for the rest of its meeting to levels equal to the 2022 autumn meeting, but lower than the corresponding period a year ago.

The cuts will take effect when racing resumes on April 21 after the track’s annual spring hiatus, which began after Sunday’s program. The meeting runs through June 18.

Track general manager Nate Newby said on Sunday that the purse deficit “is over $2 million” and that the reduced purses will be at a level “that is sustainable” for current mutuel handle.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 09:55

No stakes, but solid card Thursday at Keeneland

Coady Photography
Page One stretches out slightly in the fourth race off a few solid efforts at Turfway.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A corollary to the adage about a bad day at the racetrack being better than a good day anywhere else might be: “A non-stakes card at Keeneland is better than a stakes day anywhere else.”

Indeed, with purses being what they are these days on the Kentucky circuit, that might not even be hyperbole. Thursday afternoon at Keeneland will provide horseplayers with precisely the kind of action they like, as three allowances and two maiden-specials with a combined average maximum purse of more than $100,000 will anchor a nine-race card that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Mon, 04/10/2023 - 07:50

Ward off to typical fast start with juveniles at Keeneland

Coady Photography
Bledsoe, trained by Wesley Ward, wins the first race of the Keeneland meet on April 7.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There are few who look forward to the Keeneland spring meet more than trainer Wesley Ward, who is based here year-round and delights in unveiling his precocious 2-year-olds at his home meet.

Ward won the first race of the meet Friday, with homebred Bledsoe taking the first 2-year-old race of the year. Later in the day, he made it a double on the opening card as Her World won a salty turf-sprint allowance.

“Doesn’t get better than that at Keeneland,” Ward said.