The next-race plans for Promise Me Silver, who ran her record to 5 for 5 in the $100,000 Dixie Belle at Oaklawn on Thursday, are to be determined, trainer Bret Calhoun said Friday.
A little more than two weeks into 2015, fields at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky remain deep, though down from peak December levels. The track is averaging 8.8 starters per race, down from 10.1 starters during December, but its average should climb after this week’s racing. Friday and Saturday’s cards drew large fields, and 93 horses, plus five also-eligibles, were entered for Sunday’s nine-race program.
Mr. Z and Lucky Player were among nine 3-year-olds entered in the $150,000 Smarty Jones, which was drawn Friday. The one-mile race will be run on a special Monday card at Oaklawn.
Lady Pimpernel won the first graded stakes of her career in the $200,000 Robert J. Frankel Stakes on turf Dec. 27 at Santa Anita. When she starts in the $75,000 Astra Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 1/2 miles Sunday, the purse will be a fraction of the Grade 3 Frankel, but the distance has significant appeal to trainer Carla Gaines.
The owners of Arkansas-breds who win open-company races this meet at Oaklawn, excluding stakes, will receive a $2,000 supplement after a measure was passed by the Arkansas Racing Commission on Thursday.
No Fault of Mine, who served notice she might be a Kentucky Oaks candidate with a good second-place finish in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes on Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs, is off the Oaks trail with what trainer Chris Block described as “a little injury
Ride On Curlin had a memorable 3-year-old season last year, placing in four graded stakes including the Preakness. It appears his connections have more to look forward to at 4.
Five horses – Take It Like a Man, Bet Seattle, Afford, Too Dim, and Rise Up – were entered in a six-furlong main-track dash with multiple allowance conditions Sunday at Fair Grounds. A case can be made for four of them.
Pierre Bellocq remembers it as if it were yesterday instead of more than 40 years ago, when he occasionally strayed from his work as a horse racing cartoonist for The Morning Telegraph to provide the Philadelphia Inquirer an image of political content. Both publications were owned by Walter Annenberg.
MY PAL CHRISY has steady Beyer Speed Figures and might be good enough despite the layoff today. No way we're getting the 15-1 morning-line price quoted on WILDCAT LILY, but she'll offer at least a playable price as an "A" to kick off the sequence. It won't compare to what DREAMLICIOUS will be on the board, but I'll be using her as well, albeit as a "B," as her workouts suggest she's sitting on a much-improved effort. DAME DOROTHY is wide, and the connections could mean she's overbet, but I'll still use her, at least defensively.
