If the New Orleans weather forecast holds, Saturday’s Black Gold Stakes might not remain on the turf.
Carded for 3-year-olds going about 1 1/16 miles on grass, the Black Gold could be run over the main track following moderate to heavy rain Thursday night into Friday night.
A surface switch is not what the connections of Can Group had in mind, since Can Group just underwent his dirt experiment.
Leonatus Stakes winner Epic Ride continues traveling on Turfway Park’s road to the Kentucky Derby on Saturday night as the favorite in an overflow field for the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial.
The Battaglia, at 1 1/16 miles, has drawn 14 entrants; 12 may start. The race, which awards its top finishers points toward the Kentucky Derby starting gate on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale, is the final local prep toward the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby on March 23. That race will award points on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis.
The more time the 5-year-old Emmanuel has between starts, the better he seems to run, and the fact Emmanuel returns Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Turf from a layoff approaching seven months just might be a good thing.
Emmanuel won the 2023 Canadian Turf while not performing quite as well as he had a month earlier in the Tampa Bay Stakes, his first race in six months. Emmanuel, who also won his career debut, is a horse proven to fire fresh, and a race like his comeback 13 months ago at Tampa ought to win him a second Canadian Turf.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Chel-c Bailey helped guide three high school wrestlers to individual state championship honors last weekend in Arkansas as a volunteer coach at Lakeside High School. This weekend, she hopes to land in the winner’s circle herself.
Bailey will be aboard Summer Shoes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park as the mare seeks to win the $150,000 Downthedustyroad for the second year in a row.
“She’s my Ferrari,” Bailey said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The regally bred Royal Majesty made a favorable impression when getting up late to win his North American debut in a field of 11 six weeks ago at Gulfstream Park. If he continues to improve as his pedigree suggests, Royal Majesty should be a major player in the 3-year-old male turf division this year.
Saturday, Royal Majesty makes his stakes debut in the $200,000 Colonel Liam Stakes, which goes as race 3 and is the first of nine black-type events to be run on Saturday’s 14-race card concluding with the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
A couple of winters ago, Mike Maker readily conceded that his barn had become unbalanced, overloaded with older long-distance turf horses. But not much has changed. Maker has trained the winner of the Mac Diarmida Stakes four times in the last five renewals and has three of the 10 entrants in Saturday’s edition at Gulfstream Park.
That said, none among the Maker trio of Starting Over, Catch That Party, and Dynadrive hold any apparent edge over several others in the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida, a three-turn race over 1 3/8 miles.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Tumbarumba, Castle Chaos, and Steal Sunshine put on quite a show, finishing first, second, and third – less than a length separating the trio – in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper Stakes on the Pegasus World Cup undercard and appeared destined for a much-anticipated rematch in Saturday’s $200,000 Gulfstream Park Mile.
Unfortunately, although all three were entered back in the Grade 2 fixture, only Tumbarumba and Steal Sunshine will return. Castle Chaos shipped out earlier in the week to run instead in Saturday’s Stymie at Aqueduct.
Eschewing a chance to avenge her narrow loss to Just F Y I in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies four months ago, Jody’s Pride kicks off her 3-year-old campaign in Saturday’s $200,000 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct with an eye toward getting to the Kentucky Oaks in two months.
Some hold that a good betting race is one with a large field that lacks standouts. Sometimes, however, a large field lacking standouts simply is inscrutable, which appears to be the case in many of the Saturday stakes at Gulfstream. A couple of more obvious Florida horses, though, might offer value, and there’s good reason to get involved in the Aqueduct feature.
Fountain of Youth
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The complexion of the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes changed dramatically at scratch time Saturday morning when likely favorite Locked and the promising maiden Victory Avenue were both declared from the race.
