El Deal gets class test in Gold Fever
In Friday’s third race at Belmont Park, the six-furlong Gold Fever for 3-year-olds, El Deal will try to improve his record to 4 for 4.
Jim DunleavyApr 29, 2015
In Friday’s third race at Belmont Park, the six-furlong Gold Fever for 3-year-olds, El Deal will try to improve his record to 4 for 4.
By most accounts, the favorites for the Kentucky Derby this year look particularly strong. John Sadler believes the same holds true for the Kentucky Oaks – or at least, he hopes so.
Drama Coach (#2, ML 6-1) battles seven in Wednesday’s seventh race at Churchill Downs, a seven-furlong starter allowance. Since Jan. 1, 2014, trainer Chris Hartman is winning at a 25 percent clip in first starts off the claim, for a return on investment of $3.57.
Bolo holds the distinction of being the only horse in this Kentucky Derby field who has yet to win on dirt. Bolo, winner of the Eddie Logan Stakes by 4 1/2 lengths on the Santa Anita turf in December, has run creditably on dirt, finishing third to Dortmund in both the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby.
Considering trainer Christophe Clement’s excellent record with horses making their first start in North America, War Office could be tough to handle when she runs in a $25,000 optional-claiming race Friday at Gulfstream Park.
Sky Commander (#5, ML 5-1) will return to action in Wednesday’s fourth race at Belmont, a one-mile optional claimer. It will be his first start since a second-place finish by a nose in a 6 1/2-furlong claimer April 8 at Aqueduct. The first- and fifth-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts.
The 2014 champ Snappy Girl is back to defend her title in Friday night’s $60,000 Tellike Stakes at Evangeline Downs. The 5-year-old Louisiana-bred mare will square off against 10 rivals in the five-furlong dash on the turf. The Tellike will go as the ninth race of the 10-race program.
Daily Racing Form Announces “Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Magazine”
Jockey David Mello, who was injured last Saturday in the paddock when the gelding Aksel G T flipped over on him, underwent reconstructive surgery on his broken pelvis on Monday in Des Moines.
Larry Jones stablemates I’m a Chatterbox and Lovely Maria will be among the wagering favorites Friday in the 141st Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, but it wasn’t always that way.