ARCADIA, Calif. – It hardly seemed fair. Even though she ran the second-fastest dirt mile at Santa Anita in six years, 1:35.09, Richi got beat last month in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile.
It gets easier Saturday for the Group 1 winner from Chile. Richi might be a slam dunk in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes. The field does not include Richi’s undefeated stablemate, Cavalieri, whose 1:34.96 Beholder was the fastest Santa Anita mile since Extra Hope ran 1:34.74 over a sloppy track on Jan. 31, 2019.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – San Siro was a well-beaten fourth last month in his stakes debut, the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic. But as he makes his second stakes start, he doesn’t face the likes of Eclipse Award champion Sierra Leone or millionaire Touchuponastar. He continues on with trainer Brendan Walsh’s plan to run in the Grade 3, $350,000 Ben Ali Stakes, a 1 3/16-mile tilt for older horses Saturday at Keeneland.
Manny Franco has picked up the mount on East Avenue in the Kentucky Derby, while Javier Castellano will ride Owen Almighty.
Luan Machado rode East Avenue to a second-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes, but he is committed to ride Jeff Ruby Steaks winner Final Gambit in the Derby.
East Avenue is owned by Godolphin and trained by Brendan Walsh. Franco filled in for the injured Junior Alvarado aboard the Godolphin-owned Sovereignty for the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Alvarado returned to action Wednesday and will ride Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Grande, the Wood Memorial runner-up, was scheduled to leave New York for Kentucky by van on Thursday afternoon. He will make a pit stop at Keeneland before shipping to Louisville for the May 3 Kentucky Derby.
At Belmont Park on Thursday, trainer Todd Pletcher said Grande will have one work before the Kentucky Derby. It will take place at Keeneland, not Churchill Downs.
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher has enjoyed a strong start to the Aqueduct spring meet, sending out seven winners from 13 starters, with five of those wins coming with the last six horses he has started.
The Hall of Fame conditioner hopes to keep things rolling when he brings the multiple stakes winner Miss Justify back to the races for her 4-year-old debut in a multi-conditoned allowance on Friday’s eight-race card.
Haulin Ice is on schedule to make her next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Wednesday. The seven-furlong race for fillies and mares is May 3.
“She’s going to work Friday and all being well, we’ll probably take a chance in the Grade 1,” Joseph said.
Free Like a Girl emerged from her runner-up finish in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn last Saturday in good order and is scheduled to make her next start in the La Troienne at Churchill Downs, trainer Chasey Deville-Pomier said Wednesday.
The Grade 1, $1 million La Troienne will be run May 2. Thorpedo Anna, the reigning Horse of the Year who won the Apple Blossom by 4 1/4 lengths, is also being pointed for the La Troienne, according to her trainer, Kenny McPeek.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park leading trainer Steve Asmussen is coming off an outstanding weekend with his sprinters, as Booth gave him his seventh win in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on Saturday and Skelly popped a Beyer Speed Figure of 107 for an allowance win last Friday in his first out since November.
Skelly’s big Beyer is tied for highest of the meet, equaling the number Booth earned last month winning the Grade 3 Whitmore. The Beyers also are North America’s highest for male runners at distances of up to one mile on the main track so far in 2025.
This week, at the 2-year-old-in-training sale in Ocala, Fla., millions of dollars will be spent on horses by people dreaming of getting to the Kentucky Derby.
Chris Melton found a Derby horse for $2,500.
Melton may no longer own a piece of the 3-year-old Chunk of Gold, runner-up in the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star Stakes this winter at Fair Grounds, but he will have a story to tell should Chunk of Gold pull an upset in Kentucky Derby 151 at Churchill Downs on May 3.
