HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Lauren Robson has three choices this weekend with her 7-year-old gelding Nantasket Beach: Step him up against stakes company to run in Saturday’s Appleton, wait until Sunday to send him postward as one of the favorites in the afternoon’s $60,000 main event, or not run at all and look for an even more suitable spot during Keeneland’s upcoming spring meet.
Two years ago, the maiden Where’s My Ring won the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes, earning a start in the Kentucky Oaks where she finished 10th.
Next Saturday, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will attempt to win the Grade 3 Gazelle with the maiden Slow Kara, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of the multiple graded stakes winner Terra Promessa, who has a fourth and a second in two starts going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Bravaro, coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, will be equipped with blinkers when he runs in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
Bravaro won his first two starts against New York-breds, then came off a layoff to finish second to Nearly in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 31. In the Fountain of Youth, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. felt Bravaro was making a move at the three-furlong pole before flattening out. He finished 11 lengths behind Commandment.
Todd Pletcher and Danny Gargan will make a marquee match in two stakes on Sunday at Aqueduct. Both trainers have a strong contender in the $175,000 Top Flight Stakes, which will serve as a preliminary bout before they send out multiple runners in the $135,000 Haynesfield for New York-breds.
Damon’s Mound is a six-time stakes winner, two of those wins coming against Florida-bred competition. Sunday, Damon’s Mound gets to face statebreds again in the $110,000 NYRA Bets Sprint, one of six stakes restricted to Florida-breds on Florida Cup Day at Tampa Bay Downs.
Damon’s Mound, a 6-year-old son of Girvin trained by Bill Mott for Michele and Cliff Love, could top the $1 million mark in earnings with a victory.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – On March 17, two and a half weeks prior to the opening of Keeneland’s spring meet, workers were still scrambling to put the finishing touches on the track’s most ambitious renovation in its 90-year history.
But even without the work being fully complete, it’s clear Keeneland has hit it out of the park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Although he is the least experienced in the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita, likely favorite Cornucopian will enter the seven-furlong race with speed and recency advantages over a pair of more accomplished rivals.
Grade 1 winners Subsanador and Stronghold return from long layoffs in the San Carlos, a race that favorites won seven of the last 10 years. Cornucopian, 2 for 4, is likely to follow suit based on a fast allowance win two months ago and sharp works since.
I liked Chief Wallabee to win the Fountain of Youth last month. Bet like he would win, he did not, a victim of trip and a lack of experience in just his second start.
If Chief Wallabee went at 5-2 last out following a maiden win, how short will he be in the Florida Derby? Why does he always run with his head cocked to the right? Why does Irad Ortiz Jr. wind up on Renegade in Arkansas rather than Commandment in the Florida Derby? Why did I start feeling a week ago like Nearly wasn’t nearly as good as I thought he was two weeks ago?
Thursday morning found people in Dubai looking with concern up into the sky. Warnings were issued, flights canceled.
But while missile bombardments from Iran into the United Arab Emirates remain a highly concerning possibility, these problems came via a different Supreme Leader, one Mother Nature, who raged across the Arabian Peninsula with gale force wind and torrential rain.
