Lea, second as the 13-10 favorite in the Donn, probably will not be sent to Dubai next month for the $10 million Dubai World Cup, as had been speculated beforehand, according to Walker Hancock, president of Claiborne Farm, which co-owns the 6-year-old horse with Adele Dilschneider.
On Friday, trainer David Jacobson hopes Great Attack also will handle the move to the dirt from the turf when he runs in a $69,000 second-level optional-claiming race that highlights Aqueduct’s eight-race card.
The multiple stakes winner Clubhouse Ride sustained a suspensory injury in the San Antonio Stakes last Saturday, leading to discussions about whether to retire him for immediate stallion service or attempt a comeback later this year, trainer Craig Lewis said on Wednesday.
A commitment to fitness is the reason Mike Smith, who entered the Hall of Fame in 2003, has been able to remain the most sought-after big-race rider in the sport, more than two decades after he won his first Eclipse Award as champion jockey, and exactly 10 years since his lone Kentucky Derby win, which came aboard Giacomo.
Trainer Graham Motion said Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence remains on target for the Mac Diarmida Stakes at Gulfstream a week from Saturday, a race he’ll use as a prep for the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 28. On Monday, Main Sequence worked seven furlongs around the Palm Meadows turf course in 1:23.90 in company with stablemate Bravodino, his fifth work since arriving at the training center from Fair Hill at the start of 2015.
California Chrome was back in action at Los Alamitos on Wednesday morning, jogging four days after finishing second in his 2015 debut in the $590,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita.
Bourbon Courage reinvented himself during a three-race campaign last fall, winning his first race in two years and, somewhat surprisingly, making the case that he is better around one turn than two. On the Monday Presidents Day card at Laurel Park, a freshened Bourbon Courage will begin his 6-year-old season in the $250,000 General George Handicap.
Mountaineer Racetrack in Chester, W.Va., is planning to cut purses by approximately 20 percent this year as a result of reduced subsidies from its adjoining casino, according to track and horsemen officials.
The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. will begin implementing the Association of Racing Commissioners International guidelines for the use of controlled therapeutic medications on juveniles entered in its sales. The sale company also adjusted its policies to restrict the use of whips, beginning with the under-tack show for the March sale of 2-year-olds in training.
Catch a Flight, third in a Group 1 in Brazil last June, may run in stakes later this year, and will have his second start in the United States in a first-level optional $40,000 claimer at 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Santa Anita on Friday.
