Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:45

Kentucky Derby: Prat wants to experience how winning really feels

Susie Raisher
Flavien Prat’s Kentucky Derby mount is the late-running Louisiana Derby winner Catching Freedom.

Flavien Prat has come closer to finishing first in the Kentucky Derby in each of the last three years than he did when he actually won the race in 2019.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:10

2024 Kentucky Derby Clocker: Mott breezes Resilience, Just F Y I on four days' rest

Resilience works at CD April 22 2024
Barbara D. Livingston
Wood Memorial winner Resilience worked five furlongs in 1:01.55 on Monday at Churchill Downs and then galloped out a strong mile.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Monday, April 22

Weather: Clear
Temperature: 38
Track: Fast

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:00

Stakes winner Gregorian Chant retired

Emily Shields
Gregorian Chant won the Clocker’s Corner Stakes and Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes in 2021.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gregorian Chant, a two-time stakes winner who raced primarily in Southern California from the spring of 2019 until earlier this month, has been retired.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Sunday that the 8-year-old Gregorian Chant will be sent to owner Andrew Molasky’s ranch in Las Vegas, Nev., later this month.

“He had zero issues,” D’Amato said. “He showed me in his last race he didn’t want to run anymore. He was good to us.”

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:00

Two Rivers Over could make next start in Met Mile

Dubai Racing Club/Liesl King
Two Rivers Over won the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai last month.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two Rivers Over, the upset winner of the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai on March 30, worked a half-mile in 49.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday for a potential start in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at a mile during the Belmont Racing Festival at Saratoga.

The $1 million Met Mile is one of the nation’s leading races at the distance on dirt.

Two Rivers Over had his first workout on Sunday for trainer Doug O’Neill since the successful Dubai trip in which he rallied from the middle of a 13-horse field to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:25

Wright hoping both his runners get into San Francisco Mile

Vassar Photography
Clovisconnection is part of a Blaine Wright-trained duo that is hopeful for the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields.

Ideally, both Clovisconnection and Prince Abu Dhabi would represent trainer Blaine Wright’s stable in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields, the final stakes before the track’s scheduled closure on June 9.

Wright, it appears, is not alone among people seeking to support the $175,000 turf race. The San Francisco Mile will be limited to 12 starters, and is likely to draw an oversubscribed field when entries are compiled on Wednesday.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Kentucky Derby: Fierceness, Sierra Leone arrive at Churchill

Barbara D. Livingston
Sierra Leone gallops over the Churchill track Monday morning.

Fierceness and Sierra Leone, the expected first two choices for the Kentucky Derby, arrived on the Churchill grounds about 16 hours apart.

Fierceness, the 2023 2-year-old champion and dominant Florida Derby winner, arrived about 4 a.m. following a van ride from his winter base at Palm Beach Downs.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Brown has contenders to continue hot streak

Barbara D. Livingston
Tax Implications hasn't raced since finishing sixth in the Winter Memories Stakes at Aqueduct in September.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Chad Brown has been on a remarkable hot streak the last two weeks at Aqueduct, winning 11 races from 13 in which he’s had starters. His successful run could very well continue Thursday when Brown sends out two runners in the featured first-level allowance scheduled for 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course, as well as a first-time starting New York-bred in a turf sprint in the finale.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Kentucky Derby: Jose Ortiz named to ride Catalytic

Barbara D. Livingston
Catalytic finished second, beaten 13 1/2 lengths, to Fierceness in the Florida Derby.

Jose Ortiz has been named to ride Florida Derby runner-up and Kentucky Derby longshot Catalytic, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Monday.

Ortiz, whose best finish from eight Derby mounts is a second in 2018 aboard Good Magic, replaces Julien Leparoux, who rode Catalytic in the Florida Derby, where he was beaten 13 1/2 lengths by Fierceness.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Kentucky Derby: Mott goes back to the well with Resilience, Just F Y I

Barbara D. Livingston
Just F Y I got the last quarter-mile of her sparkling 59.86 five-furlong work in 23.71. Last week she worked a half in 50.

Just four days after Resilience and Just F Y I put in their first workouts over the Churchill Downs main track in preparation for their starts in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, trainer Bill Mott sent the 3-year-olds out for their second workouts Monday morning on a clear, cool morning in Louisville.

“We didn’t do much the other day. I wanted to see a good work far enough out where it wasn’t going to compromise them but yet benefit them,” Mott said, explaining the quick turnaround.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 11:40

Belterra begins what should be a fun meet for fans

Fair and Square at Belterra July 22 2022
Coady Photography
Fair and Square has been named the 2023 Ohio-bred Horse of the Year by the Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners.

A number of Ohio’s leading horses, and one of the state’s mainstay riders, will be honored at Belterra Park, which has a number of fan-friendly initiatives on tap as its season begins Thursday.

After three Thursday-through-Saturday race weeks to open the season, racing will continue on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule. The meet runs through Oct. 5.