Beholder, the two-time champion, will have a campaign of Grade 1 races on opposite coasts for the remainder of the spring after winning her 2015 debut in the $80,500 Santa Lucia Stakes at Santa Anita on Friday.
Firing Line, winner of the Sunland Park Derby on March 22, worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds Saturday at Santa Anita, moving closer to a start in the $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sent out three of his potential Kentucky Derby starters to work at Palm Beach Downs on Saturday, including Florida Derby winner Materiality, who looked razor-sharp breezing a half-mile in company with Louisiana Derby runner-up Stanford.
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The goal in a pick-four play Sunday at Santa Anita is to stay live to a single in the final race. The 50-cent pick four covers races 6-9; the cost of the wager is $20.
Masochistic makes his second start off a layoff in Saturday's Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at Santa Anita. Trainer Ron Ellis is winning at a 40 percent clip with horses making their second start off a 45- to 180-day layoff, for a return on investment of $3.83.
Personal Diary makes her return in Saturday's Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland for the first time since finishing fourth by three lengths in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 15. The second- and seventh-place finishers from that 1 1/16-mile turf race came back to win their next starts in graded stakes races.
The first three races of the day seem fairly inscrutable, and with short fields in each, it makes the prospect of finding a price option that much tougher. A few runners later on the card, however, could be key for in-race and multirace plays.
Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks winner Lexie Lou capped off her successful 2014 campaign with championships in three different divisions at the 40th annual Sovereign Awards on Friday night at Woodbine.
The reigning 3-year-old pacing Filly of the Year, Color’s A Virgin, returned to action on Friday (4/10) and made her 2015 debut a winning one as she captured the featured event of the evening, a $21,000 Invitational Pace for fillies and mares, at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. Overcoming a tough, first-over trip, Color’s A Virgin scored her first victory against older mares in 1:53 3/5 and gave driver Trace Tetrick one of six wins on the 13-race card.
