HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With three wins in five starts, a stakes victory over the track, and a last-out Beyer Speed Figure as good as all but one rival in the field, trainer Jack Sisterson believes there is no reason not to give Seminole Chief the opportunity to vie for a $1 million purse and some of the 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby.
It’s more about distance than surface for Avellino who returns to dirt in a first-level $75,000 allowance/optional-claiming race for 3-year-old fillies scheduled for 6 1/2 furlongs Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs.
While she did win her maiden at second asking on dirt last spring for trainer Jena Antonucci, Avellino has made the first two starts of her 3-year-old campaign over Gulfstream Park’s synthetic surface. She has finished third in each race, with speed figures comparable to her best on dirt.
In between watching two of his stars end their careers with Breeders’ Cup victories on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, trainer Bill Mott watched via simulcast one of his horses provide hope for the future with a dominant victory at Churchill Downs.
Knightsbridge, a son of Nyquist, overcame some trouble down the backside to go record a 10 1/4-length victory at Churchill. He ran seven furlongs in 1:22.96 and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
OZONE PARK. N.Y. – Bon Adieu, who scratched out of Sunday’s $100,000 Biogio’s Rose Stakes for New York-bred females, will now put her three-race winning streak on the line Thursday in a first-level $50,000 open allowance/optional-claiming race that goes as race 5 on Aqueduct’s eight-race card.
That makes it the third leg of a pick six that begins the day with a $35,827 carryover after the wager went unhit Sunday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Jody’s Pride have altered course and will now run their 3-year-old filly in the Grade 1, $600,000 Ashland Stakes on April 5 at Keeneland rather than the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle at Aqueduct the following day.
Jody’s Pride is coming off a 2 1/4-length victory in the Busher Stakes on March 2 at Aqueduct, her third victory in four career starts. The allure of a Grade 1 opportunity and a larger purse were the primary reasons for the change of plans.
Fly to the Bank will be looking to lock up the seventh stakes win of his career Tuesday, when he defends his title in the $55,000 TRAO Classic Sprint at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla.
The six-furlong race is for 3-year-olds and up bred in Oklahoma. The field of seven includes the consistent Tommyhawk and the talented Connors Outlaw.
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Fair Grounds and its leading trainer this meet, Shane Wilson, are ending the 2023-24 season with a massive Sunday.
Heavy rain caused the cancellation of the March 17 program and with six of those contests brought back closing day, racing begins at noon and ends seven hours and 15 races later.
The stakes portion of the Tampa Bay Downs meet comes to a close Sunday with the 21st annual Florida Cup Day program, a card highlighted by six stakes for registered Florida-breds each worth $110,000.
The forecast for Sunday calls for dry and sunny conditions, but it did rain Thursday and there was some rain in the forecast Saturday, so it remains to be seen how it may impact the three turf stakes scheduled on the card.
The stakes are run consecutively starting in race 6. Here’s a look at the sequence:
Sophomore Fillies
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Never Sway checks a lot of boxes in the featured eighth race Sunday at Oaklawn Park.
She’s the winningest member of the field in the $40,000 starter allowance with four career victories.
She’s proven over the Oaklawn surface as she won in her first local start Feb. 18.
Never Sway also owns the field’s co-highest last-race Beyer Speed Figure, a 74, and goes for one of the meet’s highest percentage trainer-jockey teams in Robertino Diodoro and Cristian Torres.
