Lochte coming back on short rest for Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap
Trainer Marcus Vitali said he plans to bring Lochte back on two weeks’ rest to defend his title in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on Feb. 7.
Mike WelschJan 29, 2015
Trainer Marcus Vitali said he plans to bring Lochte back on two weeks’ rest to defend his title in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on Feb. 7.
Expect Royalty, who will be seeking her fifth straight win Saturday night in the $50,000 Tomball at Sam Houston Race Park, is doing so well she can hardly contain herself.
Those who wagered on Penwith at 4-1 in the Affectionately Stakes thought they were going to start the new year off on a winning note before America caught her at the wire. Saturday, Penwith’s backers will get another chance to play her, though she’ll be closer to 4-5 than 4-1 in the $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.
Allen Jerkens has won 3,856 races during his legendary career but never one carded at two miles on the turf, but those are the conditions of the race named to honor the Hall of Fame trainer Saturday at Gulfstream Park, a $75,000 overnight stakes that lured a field of 11 long-distance grass specialists.
Always a consistent runner, Smash and Grab is currently in peak form. On Saturday, he will take on a pair of David Jacobson-trained runners in a fourth-level optional-claiming sprint at Laurel Park.
Distinctiv Passion’s position in California’s sprint division is on the rise this winter. He may go global in a few months. On Saturday, Distinctiv Passion starts in the $200,000 Palos Verdes Stakes at six furlongs at Santa Anita, a race that could lead to a start in the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai on March 28.
The 96Rock Stakes at Turfway Park typically is comprised of blue-collar 3-year-olds braving the winter in Kentucky and seemingly without much hope of becoming major players on the Derby trail.
Everything Lovely ran better in the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship than her third-place finish suggests. On Saturday, she will be a solid favorite when she returns in a first-level allowance for 3-year-old fillies at her home base of Parx.
Only one of the 17 Eclipse Award categories turned out to have a close tally this year: champion 2-year-old male, where American Pharoah outpolled Texas Red by just 15 votes, 126 to 111. The narrow distance between them was endorsed on Thursday when The Jockey Club announced that the two colts would share top weight of 126 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for 2-year-olds of 2014.
It’s a tell-tale sign when top-class riders such as John Velazquez, Edgar Prado, Rajiv Maragh, Irad Ortiz Jr., and Julien Leparoux show up where they don’t regularly compete. Those jockeys will be among those on hand Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., where the Sam F. Davis Stakes will be run as one of three stakes on a 12-race card.