PHOENIX – The spotlight shines on the local product at Turf Paradise on Saturday as Arizona-bred day is comprised of five stakes showcasing the state’s breeding industry.
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DRF Past Performances
ARCADIA, Calif. – Grand Slam Smile is ahead of schedule, having already started three times this year while she nears $1 million in earnings.
Saturday, Grand Slam Smile will try to finish ahead of her rivals in the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita, a turf mile for fillies and mares in which she looks like the controlling speed. The outside post, 9 of 9, is no problem according to trainer Sean McCarthy.
The $200,000 Roxelana Stakes, the opening-day feature at Churchill Downs, drew eight older fillies and mares. No more than seven will run, and the subtraction is a key one.
Trainer Paul McGee on Wednesday reported that Lotsandlotsofcandy would be scratched from the Roxelana, a six-furlong dirt race. Listed at 7-2 on the morning line, Lotsandlotsofcandy might well have gone favored. That’s speculation, but the effect her absence has on race shape is not. Lotsandlotsofcandy possesses loads of early speed, and her non-participation alters the shape of the Roxelana.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The number of maiden or last-out winners at Tampa Bay Downs to win stakes elsewhere this year is growing. Trainer Chad Brown hopes Instability can add his name to the list when he runs in Saturday’s $150,000 Woodhaven Stakes for 3-year-olds scheduled for one mile over Aqueduct’s inner turf course.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Triple Crown nominee Crupper earned a Preakness berth for his win in the $200,000 Bathhouse Row Stakes last Saturday at Oaklawn Park and will be considered for a start in the 3-year-old classic, according to his trainer, Donnie Von Hemel.
Crupper emerged from the Bathhouse Row in good order and is now settled in at Churchill. Von Hemel and Robert Zoellner, who bred and owns Crupper, will be debating a start in the Preakness.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Grade 1 winner Saudi Crown and the 3-year-old colt Munnings Challenge have been two of the most notable winners trainer Brad Cox has had at the current Oaklawn Park meet that closes May 2.
Saudi Crown launched his 6-year-old season here March 5 with a ratings handicap win over 1 1/16 miles, earning one of the meet’s best Beyer Speed Figures, a 101. Saudi Crown then traveled to Keeneland and won the Grade 3 Commonwealth over seven furlongs April 4. For his next start, the $3.6 million earner could return to Grade 1 company, according to Cox.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Wednesday, April 22
Weather: Cloudy
Temp. 65°
Track: FastLOUISVILLE, Ky. – Activity has definitely begun to pick up at Churchill Downs as more and more of the participants in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks arrive on a daily basis. All horses in both races are required to be on the grounds by 11 a.m. on Saturday.
It took the racing office an extra day to finally fill Friday’s entries at Gulfstream Park. But the wait was worth it as the final product turned out to be very strong for a non-weekend card during the Royal Palm session. The program includes a trio of allowance races, the first two of which feature stakes-caliber fields.
The sixth race is carded at one mile on the turf and lured a bulky field of 11, headed by Grade 1 winner Win for the Money, the multiple graded stakes-placed War Bomber, multiple Grade 3 winner Missed the Cut, and Grade 2-placed Harrow.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Last week, trainer Chad Brown unveiled a good-looking European import in Sandtrap, who came off a lengthy layoff to win an allowance race at Aqueduct. Friday, at Aqueduct, he’ll attempt to do something similar when he sends out Matilda, a Group 2 stakes winner in Germany, for her U.S. debut in a conditioned allowance that kicks off a turf-heavy eight-race card.
This one-mile allowance, which also sees Brown bringing the Grade 2 winner Grayosh back to the races, only drew a field of five and goes as the opener.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Have Faith will attempt to keep trainer Dallas Stewart’s strong Oaklawn Park meet rolling Friday when she faces Grade 1 Frizette runner-up Rileytole in the $135,000 Southern Hospitality for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs.
The overnight stakes drew a field of seven that includes Sina, who is a half-sister to both Grade 1 winner Alva Starr and Grade 2 winner Cilla, and Carolyncaroline, who seeks to become the fifth next-out winner to emerge from the Astral Spa overnight stakes here Dec. 14.