ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard has a lot going on at Woodbine these days, but he’s in no hurry to get reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Moira back to the races.
Victorious in the 2022 Woodbine Oaks and Queen’s Plate, Moira wintered at Margaux Farm in Kentucky after ending up fifth in the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland. She has been working steadily over Woodbine’s Tapeta this spring.
PHOENIX – The $60,000 Hasta La Vista plays its customary role Saturday as the last race of the Turf Paradise meet. The 1 7/8-mile turf event for 3-year-olds and upward drew a field of 11. It features a rematch of the top four finishers from the April 15 Wildcat Stakes here, the traditional prep for this in which the top three were separated by just a neck.
Also on the program is the $60,000 Turf Paradise Open Spring Futurity. The five-furlong dash for 2-year-olds has a field of 10 and goes as race 8. It’s headed by dominant trial winner Its a Cheap Date.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Oceanic will see several familiar faces in a full field of 14 for the Grade 2, $500,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on Saturday at Churchill Downs. But there are two in particular Oceanic will be relieved not to see.
The 6-year-old gelding has turned in fine efforts in recent months behind Golden Pal and Caravel, the two most recent winners of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and a step forward Saturday in the 5 1/2-furlong Twin Spires Turf Sprint would make him a candidate to shine in his own right.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Walker’s Win will have to catch a razor-sharp Skelly if he’s to win his seventh consecutive race Saturday in the $150,000 Lake Hamilton at Oaklawn Park.
The six-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and up is one of two stakes on the meet’s final card. The $200,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Championship, led by Gar Hole, drew a field of 14.
Skelly is seeking his fourth straight win at the meet. He won a first-level allowance in February, a second-level allowance in March, and the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 15.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For years, Arlington Park’s opening day coincided with Kentucky Oaks Day. Then COVID-19 struck, and Arlington didn’t begin a 2020 meeting until July. In 2021, the opener returned to the first Friday in May – a dark day, not a celebration. Churchill Downs Inc., Arlington’s owner, already had decided, strictly for financial reasons, to shed the track from its corporate portfolio. In May 2022, the massive Arlington grandstand, the vast tract of land upon which it rests, stood quiet as a remote Illinois prairie.
Churchill Downs
Wednesday, May 3
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 46
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The gangs all here, the heavy lifting is over, the hardest part for everybody now is the wait until the horses are saddled up and sent away from the gate in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks and Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following a successful seasonal debut that ran her winning streak to six, the Argentine-bred mare Didia faces her sternest test yet when she runs in Friday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Modesty Stakes at Churchill Downs.
The Modesty, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf, drew a field of nine, including graded stakes winners Shantisara, McKulick, and New Year’s Eve.
“I wouldn’t say a super step up in class, but it’s a big step,” said Ignacio Correas IV, trainer of Didia. “This race is the one that’s going to define where you go after this.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Secret Oath and Pauline’s Pearl each won Grade 1 races on the 2022 Kentucky Oaks card. Barring a dead heat, that won’t happen again on Oaks Day 2023. Both horses are entered in the Grade 1, $750,000 La Troienne Stakes.
A year ago, Pauline’s Pearl won the La Troienne, her lone Grade 1 victory, and later on the card, Secret Oath captured the Oaks itself. Secret Oath is the fastest and most accomplished horse in the La Troienne. If she gets a decent trip and runs her race, she wins. And trainer Wayne Lukas feels certain Secret Oath is going to run her race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Start from the bottom when you’re handicapping the Eight Belles. That’s where you’ll find a filly named Munnys Gold, whose eye-popping runs in each of her first three starts make her unquestionably the horse to beat in a field of nine.
Trained by Todd Pletcher for Robert and Lawana Low, Munnys Gold will have Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard when she breaks from the outside post in the Grade 2, $500,000 Eight Belles, the seventh race on a sensational Kentucky Oaks card Friday at Churchill Downs.
