Steve Davidowitz's Spiral Stakes analysis
After a hard-fought 1 1/8 miles, barely six inches separated the first three finishers in the Spiral Stakes on Turfway Park’s synthetic Polytrack racing surface.
Steve DavidowitzMar 23, 2014
After a hard-fought 1 1/8 miles, barely six inches separated the first three finishers in the Spiral Stakes on Turfway Park’s synthetic Polytrack racing surface.
Big Tire is on the verge of the major leap from a maiden race win in early March to a Grade 1 stakes in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
Honor Code is off the Kentucky Derby trail and will be sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with a slight tear in his right hind upper suspensory, trainer Shug McGaughey said Sunday.
We Miss Artie is scheduled to be flown back to south Florida on Tuesday and will not race again before the May 3 Kentucky Derby, for which the colt earned 50 eligibility points by virtue of his dramatic narrow victory Saturday in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park.
Ken Ramsey wasn’t on hand to see We Miss Artie take a very narrow victory Saturday in the 43rd running of the Grade 3, $518.950 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park. But you could almost hear him cackling from Florida.
California Chrome resumed workouts on Saturday at Los Alamitos, two weeks after winning his third consecutive stakes in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita and two weeks before a start in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby.
Owner Ron Sanchez said the April 5 Wood Memorial – not the Florida Derby on Saturday – will be next for Social Inclusion shortly after the undefeated 3-year-old worked a half-mile from the three-eighths pole in 49.11 seconds Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park.
Four potential Florida Derby starters worked at Palm Meadows on Saturday, topped by Cairo Prince, who breezed an easy half-mile in 50.90. He was joined on the Palm Meadows tab by Constitution (four furlongs in 49.30), Spot (bullet half-mile in 47.70) and Matador (five-eighths in 1:01).
With a plethora of negativity swirling around him, trainer Steve Asmussen got some good news Saturday when it was revealed that his top 3-year-olds for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks will remain in his care.
Though trainer Tony Dutrow was initially planning to bring Gotham Stakes third-place finisher In Trouble back to New York for the Wood Memorial on April 5, he is now giving serious consideration to running him in next Saturday’s Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds.