ELMONT, N.Y. - After two trouble-free trips winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, I’ll Have Another on Sunday encountered a traffic-filled journey from Pimlico to Belmont Park, where on June 9 he will attempt to win the Belmont Stakes and become Thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.
Due mainly to an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike, it took I’ll Have Another nearly 5 1/2 hours to van from Pimlico. The trip usually takes around four hours.
BALTIMORE – I’ll Have Another is bound for the bright lights of Broadway. He pulled out of Pimlico Racecourse on Sunday morning, headed to Belmont Park in New York, where on June 9 he will attempt to become the 12th winner of the Triple Crown, and the first since Affirmed in 1978.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Rousing Sermon finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby on May 5, but could be back in the Triple Crown for the Belmont Stakes by the end of this weekend, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.
Depending on how Rousing Sermon works at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday, and the results of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, the Belmont could be an option. Rousing Sermon races for breeders Larry and Marianne Williams and has won 2 of 10 starts and $404,000.
“We’ll see what kind of shape everyone is in,” Hollendorfer said of the rivals.
If Mark Valeski runs in the Belmont, one horse he won’t have to worry about facing is El Padrino, who beat Mark Valeski by a nose in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 25.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday that El Padrino, 13th in the Kentucky Derby, was sent over the weekend to Win Star Farm, where he will get a little vacation and be pointed for a fall campaign.
“He’s been in training since March of last year – he was one of the first 2-year-olds to come in,” Pletcher said. “He’s had a long steady campaign; just thought we’d freshen him up a bit.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mark Valeski, winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont, arrived back at Churchill Downs early Monday morning and will train there while his connections decide whether or not to return for the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 9.
Trainer Larry Jones said while he was happy with his colt’s 1 1/4-length victory over Right to Vote in the Peter Pan – which earned him a 96 Beyer Speed Figure – he would monitor this Saturday’s Preakness Stakes as well as other developments before sitting down with owner Brereton Jones and deciding what’s next.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Owner Brereton Jones and trainer Larry Jones were rewarded for their decision to skip last week’s Kentucky Derby when Mark Valeski rallied to win Saturday’s Grade 2 Peter Pan at Belmont Park in a solid, albeit not spectacular performance.
Despite racing wide throughout under Rosie Napravnik, Mark Valeski surged past the pacesetting 47-1 longshot Right to Vote at the eighth pole and persevered to the wire to beat that horse by 1 1/4 lengths. It was one-half length back to Street Life in third.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Owner Adam Wachtel was at Aqueduct on Dec. 31, looking at a field of soon-to-be 3-year-olds in the paddock for a maiden race. While there were several horses that on form drew his interest, there was one that caught his eye from a physical standpoint.
That horse, Romancing the Gold, won the third race that day at 41-1. Shortly thereafter, Wachtel made inquiries into possibly purchasing the horse. Rebuked at first, Wachtel and his business partner Nils Brous kept tabs on the gelding.
ELMONT, N.Y. -- Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up, sustained an injury to his left hind leg that will keep him out of training for a couple of weeks, but should not prevent him from running again this year, his connections announced Thursday.
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Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. after the Belmont.
It was a perfectly honest question, and John Velazquez was happy to oblige with a reply. When he won the Kentucky Derby aboard Animal Kingdom, wondered fellow rider Jose Valdivia, how did it feel?
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Preakness winner Shackleford has been sent to WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., for a two-week break before gearing back up for a run in the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 31 at Monmouth Park, said trainer Dale Romans.
“He’s just going to get some rest he deserves,” said Romans. “He might go into a round pen on some grass, maybe hand-walk a little bit. I’m really, really happy with him. He gave us a great Triple Crown, and I’d have to think he’s right in the thick of it for champion 3-year-old this year.”
