Nobody was beating I’m Very Busy in the Muniz Memorial on March 23 at Fair Grounds. I’m Very Busy, a Churchill Downs flop in May aside, is one of the best turf horses in North America, and he was primed for the Muniz, which he won by nearly four lengths.
Point Proven, however, ought to have done considerably better than his seventh-place Muniz showing, though his finishing position in the race makes him an even better bet in the featured seventh race Thursday at Churchill Downs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dornoch looks to restore somewhat of a tarnished image when he starts as a probable longshot in a field of 10 in Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.
Coming off a solid 2-year-old campaign, one in which he defeated Sierra Leone in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, Dornoch’s 3-year-old campaign has been relatively underwhelming.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – For all of his previous success in the United States in recent years, 2024 promises to be even better for trainer Charlie Appleby.
From 2021 to 2023, the Newmarket-based Appleby won 18 races from 52 starters in the U.S. Already this year, Appleby has compiled a record of 5-5-3 from 16 starters in 13 graded stakes between New York and Kentucky, and he has about 20 horses currently residing in the U.S.
Mr Chaos starts as the heavy favorite in the $100,000 William Henry Harrison Stakes on Wednesday at Horseshoe Indianapolis – and is also a marker of the changed racing landscape in this part of the country.
Rob Dobbs trains Mr Chaos for owners Judy Dorris and Ken Sentel. Dobbs for years was the trusted assistant to trainer Christine Janks, who also bred and owned racehorses and was a summer fixture at Arlington Park. Judy Dorris is the wife of Tom Dorris, a longtime trainer on the Chicago circuit who counted among his owners Ken Sentel.
ARCADIA, Calif. – For all that he has accomplished on turf, winning 159 stakes since 2014, the two graded turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies at the Del Mar summer meeting have largely eluded Phil D’Amato.
D’Amato has one win in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at a mile, with Bellabel in 2022, and one win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles, with Going Global in 2021.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Wesley Ward has already won 12 maiden races for 2-year-olds in 2024, 11 of which were first-time starters. Thursday, he will attempt to win the $150,000 Tremont Stakes at Saratoga with a first-time starter when he sends out Touchy in the 5 1/2-furlong race that is the first of 24 stakes to be run during the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
The Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 6 will not include the 2023 Grade 1 winner Tamara.
Trainer Richard Mandella said on Monday that he was unsatisfied with Tamara’s latest workout on May 25 and will instead prepare the 3-year-old filly for a comeback at the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 20.
Caracaro showed the potential for top-level ability on the racetrack, but never got the chance to deliver a breakthrough victory. Now, his first foals are showing potential – and if fate is kind to them, perhaps they’ll deliver their sire to the top ranks of this freshman class.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tito’s Calling scratched out of Saturday’s Grade 3 Belle Mahone in favor of Thursday’s featured conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf.
Tito’s Calling was among the leading Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine last year. After a rare poor showing in the Woodbine Oaks, she ran second in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara, the Bison City Stakes.
