Trainer Tony Dutrow said Tuesday he will enter In Trouble in the Louisiana Derby on Wednesday, but that a final decision on whether to ship the horse to New Orleans on Thursday or wait and run in the Wood Memorial hadn’t yet been made.
Harvey Clarke said he never lamented the Kentucky Derby winner he virtually gave away. He is simply glad to have another chance to make it back to America’s most famous horse race.
Trainer Tom Amoss is making no secret of the tactics Rise Up will employ when he starts Saturday in the Louisiana Derby. Rise Up is going to the front and taking the Louisiana Derby field as far as he can.
Talk about attrition. Since Churchill Downs offered its earliest-ever Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool in late November, only two horses have been listed in all four pools toward the 2014 Derby – Cairo Prince and Strong Mandate.
Trainer Leah Gyarmati remains on the fence about running Jerome Stakes winner Noble Moon in the Wood Memorial. On Sunday, Noble Moon worked a mile in 1:46.05 in company with Gyarmati’s Grade 1-winning filly Sweet Reason.
General a Rod turned down the backstretch shortly after the renovation break Sunday, making his way to the five-furlong marker to begin his final major prep for Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby. Then, he got some unexpected company.
The eye-catching 6 1/4-length allowance victory by the New York-bred Effinex at Aqueduct on Sunday was special to Russell Cohen, the colt’s breeder, on several levels.
Susan Chu first got interested in horses through riding, which she still does, as does her 11-year-old son, Jerry. But a trip to the 2010 Kentucky Derby helped pique her interest in Thoroughbred racing, and she got the support of her husband, Charles, to get involved as more than a spectator.
The Bob Baffert-trained pair of Chitu and Midnight Hawk battled it out for the top two finishing positions in the Sunland Derby on Sunday.
Sunday at Sunland Park, Chitu earned 50 points – and a $400,000 winner’s share – by holding off stablemate Midnight Hawk to take the Grade 3, $800,110 Sunland Derby before a track-record crowd 18,642.
