OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Not all 3-year-olds were ready, or good enough, to get on the Kentucky Derby trail. Five of those 3-year-olds will look to move forward in their campaigns Friday in a first-level allowance race at Aqueduct. The 1 1/8-mile race is positioned four weeks out from the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan on May 11 at Aqueduct.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The late country music superstar Toby Keith was a serious student of pedigree and when partner Danny Caldwell contacted him late last year about a Curlin filly for sale, Keith pulled up her family minutes later and gave him the thumbs-up to purchase Rose Parade for his Dream Walkin’ Farms.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nice as Pie, bringing in a Turfway Park win streak, is expected to face the stakes-performing stablemates Crimson Advocate and Amidst Waves in the $250,000 Limestone Stakes on Friday at Keeneland.
They are among five stakes winners in the main body of the field of 12 3-year-old fillies. The 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint has two also-eligibles, who would play a prominent role with scratches or a surface switch. Wet weather moved into the Lexington area Tuesday and was expected to intensify Wednesday and Thursday, and continue through early Friday.
Bought for approximately $3.5 million last December, Via Sistina has a reputation that belongs atop the list of contenders for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, on Friday evening.
So far this year, Via Sistina has matched the expectations that accompanied her sale price in Britain last December. In her Australian debut, Via Sistina closed from last of six to win the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney on March 23 as the 6-5 favorite.
WHO’S HOT
Sierra Leone’s impressive 98 Beyer Speed Figure victory in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland cemented his status as one of the top choices in the Kentucky Derby; Derby Watch linemaker David Aragona lowered Sierra Leone to 7-2, a tick below 3-1 favorite Fierceness.
Stronghold
Colt by Ghostzapper – Spectator, by Jimmy Creed
Bred in Kentucky by Eric and Sharon Waller
On the final day of major prep-point action, Stronghold secured his spot in the Kentucky Derby with a hard-fought victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. The colt, who previously won the Grade 3 Sunland Derby, comes from a multi-generation homebred program.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As part of an eight-win day at four tracks Saturday, Chad Brown won two stakes at Aqueduct with Shidabhuti upsetting the Grade 3, $169,750 Distaff Stakes and Reasoned Analysis doing the same in the $175,000 Bay Shore Stakes.
Shidabhuti, who hadn’t run since finishing eighth in the Monmouth Oaks on July 29, was entered in an allowance race that didn’t fill, so Brown wound up supplementing her to the Distaff.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – All-sources handle on Saturday’s 11-race Wood Memorial program was $15,318,421, down 23.3 percent from last year’s figure of $19,984,716.
Those figures include handle in both years on multi-race wagers linking races from other tracks. When wagering only on Aqueduct’s card is considered, handle was down 25 percent.
There were 11 races with 90 betting interests on Saturday’s card, the exact same as a year ago. However, last year, there were four turf races run whereas Saturday there were none.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Winter recess is over for trainer Jorge Duarte Jr., who sends out just his second starter of 2024 on Thursday when he runs Don’t Listen in a $50,000 starter allowance/optional-claiming sprint for 3-year-old fillies on Aqueduct’s eight race-card.
Duarte hasn’t run a horse since Had to Have Him won a low-level claiming race at Laurel Park on Jan. 12. Based at a training center in Colts Neck, N.J., Duarte had the luxury of turning out 24 horses for the winter, including his multiple stakes-winning turf sprinter Nothing Better.
