Fri, 03/29/2024 - 15:01

Los Alamitos cancels Saturday evening card

Los Alamitos has canceled its Saturday evening program of Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds because of a forecast of extensive rain.

The decision was announced on Friday, a day after Santa Anita canceled racing on Saturday and Sunday for the same reason.

Los Alamitos did not have a Sunday program scheduled because of Easter.

Saturday’s eight-race program included five 220-yard maiden races for 2-year-olds that were designed as prep races for time trials for the Robert Adair Kindergarten Fuuturity on April 21. The final will be run in May.

Fri, 03/29/2024 - 14:46

Mc Vay will try to win Santa Anita Derby as a maiden

By Steve Andersen

Barbara D. Livingston

Trainer John Shirreffs will go for his fourth Santa Anita Derby title next Saturday with Mc Vay.

Trainer John Shirreffs has won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby three times since 2007, and has a potential for a fourth if Mc Vay scores an upset in the $750,000 race on April 6.

A win by Mc Vay would be unique, a victory by a maiden in California’s leading race for 3-year-olds.

Mc Vay, owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable, was a well-beaten third in his last start, the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on March 3.

Fri, 03/29/2024 - 14:20

Hard to Justify scheduled to make 2024 debut in Edgewood on Kentucky Oaks card

By David Grening

Barbara Livingston

Hard to Justify hasn't raced since this victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Hard to Justify, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $600,000 Edgewood at Churchill Downs on the May 3 Kentucky Oaks undercard. On Friday at Payson Park, Hard to Justify worked a half-mile in 48.98 seconds over the main track. It was her fifth work since getting started just a hair late following a freshening.

“She’s training great, she’s taken another step forward, a little stronger this year,” Brown said. “She’s training like an older horse, really.”

Fri, 03/29/2024 - 14:20

Brown pointing Tuscan Gold to Preakness

By David Grening

Barbara D. Livingston

Tuscan Gold ran a gallant third in the Louisiana Derby.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Trainer Chad Brown said Tuscan Gold, third in the March 24 Louisiana Derby, will be pointed to the Preakness on May 18, trainer Chad Brown.

Tuscan Gold, who won his first two starts, did not have the smoothest of trips when third, beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Catching Freedom in the Louisiana Derby. He earned only 25 qualifying points to the May 4 Kentucky Derby, unlikely to be enough to get into the Derby field.

Fri, 03/29/2024 - 14:10

Deterministic works like two turns will be no problem in Wood Memorial

By David Grening

Barbara D. Livingston

Deterministic wins the Gotham over a very sloppy Aqueduct track in his second start. He may be favored in the Wood.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Deterministic, the Grade 3 Gotham winner, completed preparations for next Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct by working five furlongs in 1:01.48 Friday morning at Payson Park, a training center about 90 minutes north of Gulfstream Park.

Thu, 03/28/2024 - 15:13

World-traveler Rispoli reaches milestone in style

By Steve Andersen

Umberto Rispoli after winning Jeff Ruby with Endlessly March 23 2024

Coady Photography

Umberto Rispoli celebrates after winning the Jeff Ruby at Turfway Park with Endlessly last weekend. He also won the Rushaway Stakes on Trikari.

By his own tally, veteran jockey Umberto Rispoli won the 2,000th race of his career aboard Trikari in the Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park in Kentucky last Saturday.

To reach the milestone, Rispoli, 35, has won races on four continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America – in a career that began in 2005.

Rispoli is from Italy and won 1,122 races in that country at the start of his career. He has since won 467 races in the United States, 238 in France, 123 in Hong Kong, 40 in Japan, five in Germany, four in South Africa, and one each in Britain, Macau, and Mauritius.

Wed, 03/27/2024 - 14:25

Back from the Middle East, Skelly will defend title in Count Fleet

By Mary Rampellini

Coady Photography

Skelly won last year's Grade 3 Count Fleet at Oaklawn Park, in the midst of a seven-race win streak.

Skelly has returned to Oaklawn after running second in the Group 3, $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, according to his trainer, Steve Asmussen. Plans call for the top-class runner to defend his title in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 13.

“Skelly’s here at Oaklawn,” Asmussen said Tuesday. “He’s back training regularly and we think the Count Fleet, we’ll be ready for it.”

Wed, 03/27/2024 - 14:25

Mystik Dan backed by all-Arkansas operation

By Mary Rampellini

Coady Photography

Mystik Dan was an impressive winner last out in the slop in the Grade 3 Southwest.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Back in February 2016, a Colonel John filly named Ma’am won her maiden at Oaklawn Park.

Fast forward to February 2024 and her first foal, Mystik Dan, was a dominant winner of the track’s Grade 3, $800,000 Southwest Stakes.

The performance has made Mystik Dan one of the top choices for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday in what has been a meaningful journey for a group of breeders and owners born and raised in Arkansas.

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 16:02

Ova Charged, with 113 Beyer, caps runaway victory in trainer standings for Wilson

By Marcus Hersh

Barbara D. Livingston

Ova Charged was a dominate winner of Sunday's Page Cortez on the closing day of the Fair Grounds meet.

Ova Charged did to her Louisiana-bred rivals in the Page Cortez Stakes on Sunday at Fair Grounds what her trainer, Shane Wilson, did to the entire 2023-24 Fair Grounds meet: Crushed ‘em.

Mon, 03/25/2024 - 15:39

Saratoga adds Grade 1 Beverly Steinman steeplechase to Belmont Festival

By Matt Hegarty

Barbara D. Livingston

The Beverly Steinman joins the A.P. Smithwick and Jonathan Sheppard as Grade 1 jump races held at Saratoga. The Smithwick and Sheppard are run during the summer meet.

The New York Racing Association will host a new $150,000 steeplechase race during its Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, to be run this year on June 9 at Saratoga Race Course, the association announced on Monday.

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