The last Kentucky Derby winner to race at Arlington was Unbridled, who, the year after winning the 1990 Derby, won an allowance race here in 1991. But Arlington is the plan for 2014 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, who arrived in Chicago on Monday after shipping from England by way of Amsterdam.
Dude’s The Man, with Corey Callahan listed to drive, will race in the first of two $50,000 Meadowlands Pace eliminations Saturday. The top five finishers from each seven-horse field will advance to the final on July 18 at the Big M.
As it did last year, the Aqueduct backstretch will be shut down during the Saratoga meet and horses stabled there will be moved to either Belmont Park or Saratoga.
With a nine-win lead entering the final two weeks of the meet, Todd Pletcher seems pretty certain to win his eighth Belmont spring-summer trainers title. The question is whether he will set a meet record for victories.
It’s a bit unusual for a Grade 1-winning 2-year-old to still be eligible for his second-level allowance condition. Such is the case for Havana, the 2013 Champagne winner, who returns from 13-month layoff Thursday in a seven-furlong allowance at Belmont Park.
With nine weeks between races, trainer Shug McGaughey did not feel it was necessary to do too much too soon with his Grade 1 winner Honor Code in order to have him ready for the $1.25 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.
Three members have been elected to new four-year terms on the Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors, while a fourth director was elected to serve out the term of a seat vacated by the recent resignation of a member, the Breeders’ Cup said on Tuesday.
Gierkink: Woodbine Horses to Watch for week of July 6
The 5-year-old Pass Key will be racing in the Florida-bred ranks for the first time in his career Thursday, when he starts as a chief contender in the featured seventh race at Gulfstream Park.
This summer is shaping into a busy one in stakes races for California-based trainer Keith Desormeaux.
