Guys Reward and Winning Cause were both graded stakes winners at the 2014 Monmouth Park meet, but they will have to have their running shoes on Saturday to succeed in the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes.
Joann’s Wildcat is coming off a third-place finish in the Sunrise Stakes, Fascinante a fourth-place effort in the Sunset Stakes. And the sun figures to be shining on one of those two in the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle after Saturday’s $60,000 Gracie Handicap for fillies and mares.
Abtaal (#10, ML 6-1) runs for the first time since Feb. 22, 2014, in Thursday’s eighth race at Belmont Park, a 1 1/8-mile optional claimer on turf. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is winning at a 38 percent clip when saddling a horse coming off a layoff longer than 180 days, for a return on investment of $3.52.
Defending champ Gypsy Melody renews her rivalry with Sky and Sea, Polar Plunge, and Somerset Swinger in Saturday’s $60,000 Lady Slipper, a six-furlong sprint for Minnesota-bred fillies and mares at Canterbury Park.
Mike Pegram, Bob Baffert, and their peeps call the purses of undercard races on big-event days “beer money.” True to form, one of the horses they shipped to Pimlico for Preakness Day is Gimme Da Lute, who stands an excellent chance of keeping the Coors Light flowing when he runs in the $100,000 Chick Lang Stakes.
Larry Collmus, the star race-caller who grew up in nearby Ellicott City, and John Scheinman, a former racing writer for the Washington Post and longtime freelancer, were among the honorees Thursday morning at the annual Alibi Breakfast in the Pimlico clubhouse.
Ten years ago, Robbie Bailes narrowly averted becoming a sorry footnote in Preakness history. Bailes was the trainer of Scrappy T, whose erratic swerve under Ramon Dominguez at the top of the stretch caused the eventual winner, Afleet Alex, to almost fall.
n Preakness Day 2014, Happy My Way turned the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap into a rout.One year later, Happy My Way has not been back to the winner’s circle after facing rugged company in five subsequent starts, but he looks to be in a good spot as the defending champion in the $150,000 Maryland Sprint.
American Pharoah likes to move at a brisk clip, and he was certainly eager on Thursday morning here at Pimlico, tugging hard at the reins during his daily gallop in preparation for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. But he had a formidable opponent in exercise rider Jorge Alvarez.
The first time Bob Baffert ran a horse in the Preakness, someone in the infield threw a football at his horse. That was his welcome to the Preakness. Fortunately, the ball wasn’t thrown by Johnny Unitas. The football didn’t hit Cavonnier, and the incident sure didn’t deter Baffert.
