Majestic Venezuela picks up the added real estate she’s bred to like Saturday when she attempts to win her third straight race in the $95,000 Martha Washington at Gulfstream Park.
Majestic Venezuela will be stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the turf race for 3-year-old fillies that drew 10.
“I like the distance,” trainer Victor Barboza Jr. said.
Even in Europe, where 3-year-old stakes horses begin racing against older horses months before their North American counterparts, the sophomore set generally sticks to their own age group until July. The $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park is written for fillies and mares aged 3 and older, and the 3-year-old filly Candied is one of seven entered in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Crowd clamor caused trainer Chad Brown’s big Kentucky Derby hope, Sierra Leone, to delay the start of Blue Grass Stakes. If Sierra Leone couldn’t handle Keeneland, wouldn’t he melt down before the raving Derby throngs at Churchill? Nah – Sierra Leone was fine. But one race before the Derby, the crowd’s crush and buzz burrowed into the brain of Brown’s favorite for the Old Forester Turf Classic. I’m Very Busy became unglued in the paddock and never got himself back together, leaving his race in the preliminaries, straggling home a dismal seventh.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies will prep for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on July 20 in Saturday’s $125,000 Fury Stakes. Shamans Girl could get back on track in the seven-furlong Tapeta sprint.
Owned by Stronach Stables, Shamans Girl made quite a splash when debuting against restricted opposition in the Dec. 2 Shady Well Stakes. After trailing the six-horse field on the backstretch, she closed strongly under Ryan Munger to win the six-furlong sprint going away by 3 1/2 lengths with a 72 Beyer Speed Figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Nothing Like You will cement her role as the top 3-year-old dirt filly in California if she defeats a small field Saturday in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita.
Only four are entered in the Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race with marginal recent relevance. Previously run as the Hollywood Oaks at Hollywood Park, the $200,000 race was moved to Santa Anita in 2014 and renamed the Summertime Oaks.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Crupi has plenty of history behind him, as he was bred by a storied operation, named in memory of an accomplished horseman, and races for top connections. He has taken time, but appeared to be finding best stride recently. Crupi will need his best to deliver on the long-held hopes for him as he contests the 138th running of the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Saturday at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As a consistent multiple Grade 1 winner here, Casa Creed has been dubbed “the Mayor of Saratoga.” But Carl Spackler is running for office. Perfect in two graded stakes at the Spa last summer, Carl Spackler meets Casa Creed for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Poker Stakes at a mile on the inner turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The first time Idiomatic came to New York, a relative unknown in late spring 2023, she returned to Kentucky soundly defeated in the Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes. The second time Idiomatic traveled to New York, she stamped herself as a sensational racehorse, passing established Grade 1 rivals Secret Oath and Nest while winning the Personal Ensign, her first Grade 1, by four lengths.
With a field of six that includes four last-out maiden winners and two others who were beaten less than two lengths in their latest starts, the challenge facing handicappers in Saturday’s competitive allowance feature over six furlongs at Emerald Downs is accurately projecting which horse has the greatest potential for improvement.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gun Pilot gave a breakthrough performance in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard and is the even-money morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 True North Stakes for 4-year-olds and up traveling 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga.
Trained by Steve Asmussen, Gun Pilot earned a stakes-placing around two turns last year before finishing off the board in both the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile and Grade 1 Woody Stephens.
