Training hours at Gulfstream Park will get a little more interesting the rest of the winter now that trainer Shug McGaughey has shipped Honor Code down from his Payson Park base to continue preparations for his 3-year-old debut over local soil.
Led by Eclipse Award winner Shared Belief, Holy Bull winner Cairo Prince, and a record-setting 42 nominations from a single trainer, Todd Pletcher, a total of 413 3-year-olds were announced on Saturday by Churchill Downs as the nominees to the 2014 Triple Crown.
Casiguapo, second in the Delta Jackpot and Grade 1 Hopeful, will try to earn himself a spot back on the Kentucky Derby trail when he takes on eight rivals at Gulfstream Park in Sunday’s first-level optional $75,000 claiming feature at six furlongs.
After finishing fifth sprinting in his debut, Hoppertunity successfully stretched out and defeated maidens in his second start Thursday when going a mile, becoming the latest in a long line of promising 3-year-olds based here with trainer Bob Baffert.
Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, continues to recover from grabbed quarter suffered in early January, but is not being pointed to a specific race, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday.
Six 3-year-olds – none who possess a much stronger résumé than did 2013 Louisiana Derby winner Revolutionary at this point – will try to jump onto the Triple Crown trail in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
All but one of the eight 3-year-olds in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs are still eligible for first-level allowances, but at least several have shown the potential to make a huge leap Saturday and make their presence felt the rest of the way to the May 3 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Despite finishing fifth as the favorite in an allowance last time out, Cousin Stephen has gotten the green light from trainer Chad Brown for Saturday's Sam Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
Trainer Shug McGaughey said Wednesday that Honor Code had missed 10 days of training after “bruising up his back ankles a little bit” and was now unlikely to make the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 22.
George McEwen races under the moniker Wounded Warrior Stables and donates 10 percent of his stable’s purse earnings to charities that benefit wounded or ill war veterans. Two of McEwen’s horses, Uncle Sigh and Sushi Empire, will be competing in graded stakes on Saturday.
