Trainer Graham Motion recently completed another annual migration, shipping dozens of horses from Florida to Maryland to kick off the spring racing season. Combining his Florida string with those already stabled at the Fair Hill Training Center over the winter, he estimated that he now has 70 horses training in Maryland.
“It’s an organization, but it’s something we’ve been doing a long time,” Motion said. “I’ve been doing it since the old Gulfstream, so it’s been a while.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As well as he trains over it in the morning, it’s hard to believe that Friend Ofthe Devil runs so poorly on the dirt.
“One of the great mysteries of life,” his trainer Carlos Martin said.
But the one time he ran on turf, Friend Ofthe Devil was terrific, speeding off to a 6 1/4-length victory in a maiden race for New York-breds at Aqueduct last Oct. 31. Friday, at Aqueduct, Friend Ofthe Devil returns to the turf in a first-level allowance for statebreds going six furlongs over the outer turf course.
From 2021-23, the Bewitch Stakes in April at Keeneland was War Like Goddess’s personal playground. Her 2021 win, a blowout, stamped the filly as special. The next two years, War Like Goddess used the Bewitch as a springboard to campaigns culminating in Breeders’ Cup starts.
None of the nine entrants in this year’s Bewitch rate anywhere near War Like Goddess’s level, though Friday’s 1 1/2-mile turf fixture for older fillies and mares at least drew a competitive cast.
It’s been four years since Mark Casse has started a horse in the Kentucky Derby. The Hall of Fame trainer has mixed emotions about having missed the big dance the last three years.
“It’s demanding,” Casse said of the road to the Derby. “It’s a lot of holding your breath. You don’t miss that part, but you do miss that part. Ultimately, I’m happy to be there.”
And be there with a contender.
ARCADIA, Calif. – An appealing pick six carryover is up for grabs Friday at Santa Anita, though a hapless claiming race will give bettors pause in the opening leg.
The $68,636 carryover covers races 4 through 9. None are easy, but none are as grim as the first leg. Race 4 is a $5,000 claiming mile restricted to horses previously based in Northern California who have not won two races in their lifetime. It’s the bottom of the barrel.
The upside is the final five races are less problematic. Friday’s $2 pick six is expected to generate more than $500,000 in new money.
Tiztastic
Colt by Tiz the Law – Keesha, by Tapit
Bred in Kentucky by Capital Bloodstock ($80,000 Keeneland January short yearling purchase by McMahon and Hill Bloodstock, agent; $335,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by M.V. Magnier and Ron Winchell)
A live auction during the Arkansas Racetrack Chaplaincy banquet last month raised $27,000 for the organization, according to Chaplain Robi Heffington.
She said there were 15 items on offer and the top sellers were an Oaklawn saddle towel quilt that brought $8,500 and a custom, artistic walking cane signed by D. Wayne Lukas that brought $6,000.
An original painting of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan by award-winning artist Renee Torbit brought $1,000. There also were 100 silent auction items.
Jockey Tyler Bacon, who had a breakout meet at Oaklawn, will be riding next at Prairie Meadows, said his agent, Brian Assmann.
Bacon, who rode most of the meet with his apprentice allowance, is now a journeyman. He ranks fourth in the current standings with 47 wins from 337 starts for mount earnings of $3.2 million.
“Tyler wants to go back to Prairie Meadows so he can get as much experience as possible,” Assmann said. “We would like to thank all the trainers at Oaklawn that supported us, especially Chris Hartman and D. Wayne Lukas.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The depth of trainer Brad Cox’s older dirt horse division was on full display last weekend when First Mission won the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap with a Beyer Speed Figure of 109, the same day Just a Touch captured a Keeneland allowance with a Beyer of 104 to put himself in play for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga.
First Mission’s 109 Beyer equaled the top number put up in dirt races at a mile or more so far this year in North America. The effort came two weeks after Cox trainee Hit Show won the Group 1 Dubai World Cup.
WHO’S HOT
Journalism, early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, arrived Tuesday at Churchill Downs and will post his final pre-Derby work over the track. Before he left Santa Anita, Journalism worked an easy half-mile and galloped out an additional furlong on April 19. It was the colt’s first work since he won the Santa Anita Derby on April 5. For Journalism, what seems like light training is standard fare. Journalism has never worked beyond five furlongs. Journalism’s Derby Watch odds have been lowered to 5-2 by Daily Racing Form linemaker David Aragona.
