Field size averages barely more than six horses per race during the first half of a 10-race Friday program at Keeneland, but things pick up after that. Besides the Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes, the latter portion of the card also includes a remarkably deep first-level allowance for 3-year-olds (race 7).
Brewster Smith's analysis of the Friday 4/17 card at Yonkers Raceway.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has confirmed Protonico, a five-length winner of the Grade 3 Ben Ali here last weekend, for the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on the May 1 Kentucky Oaks undercard.
The much-debated “bounce theory” will come into play when Air Squadron takes on five rivals in Friday’s $44,000 optional-claiming feature at Gulfstream Park.
Hootenanny, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last fall at Santa Anita, makes his 3-year-old debut Saturday at Keeneland in the fourth of 10 races, a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance with wide-open conditions and a $64,000 purse.
When it comes to the 3-year-old crop of 2015, the West is best. California-based American Pharoah and Dortmund will be the top two choices in the Kentucky Derby, while Firing Line, who romped last out in the Sunland Derby, will come in for some support, and perhaps three other California-based horses – One Lucky Dane, Bolo, and Ocho Ocho Ocho – are prospective Derby starters.
For Saturday’s Charles Town Classic, Shared Belief will be traveling by plane for the first time since he was a young horse heading West from his Kentucky birthplace. He will be asked to handle his first deepish, Eastern racing surface. He will also be required to spend most of the mile and one-eighth race turning left.
A 12-pack of juveniles completed one-furlong breezes in :10 seconds flat on Wednesday as the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring 2-year-olds in training sale reached its midway point.
Positive vibes have been emanating from Emerald Downs in advance of the 2015 meeting, which begins Saturday. The track’s new owners, the Muckleshoot Tribe, got off to a popular start with horsemen when they increased overnight purses by 20 percent from 2014, and the initial response has been encouraging for all involved. The horse population has swelled, and some 15 to 20 new jockeys and trainers have set up shop for the summer. As if on cue, there’s even sunshine in the forecast for opening day.
Trainer Jimmy Jerkens was planning to run Classic Point in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct, but has reversed course and will now point the 6-year-old mare to the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 2, Kentucky Derby Day.
