OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Solitude Dude suffered a cut on a front ankle but otherwise came out of his two-length victory in Saturday’s Bay Shore Stakes in good order, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Sunday. The Bay Shore was a steppingstone to the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Saratoga on June 6. 

“We needed a filler to go to the Woody Stephens, this made the most sense,” Joseph said. "I didn’t want to go to Churchill Downs to run him [in the Pat Day Mile] and then cut him back. We need to stay at seven-eighths. We have a really talented colt.” 

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Gratefully, the undefeated filly who was scratched out of the Grade 2 Giant’s Causeway Stakes on April 12 due to a foot bruise, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $250,000 Intercontinental at Saratoga on June 4, trainer Robert Falcone Jr. said. 

Falcone said he had no issue with the scratch, adding  “two days later, she was sound as a dollar. Terrible timing.” 

Falcone said Gratefully would remain in Kentucky until May 1, when he begins shipping horses to Saratoga. 

OZONE PARK, N.Y.  - The Irish-bred Sandtrap is part of a successful turf family and it looks like she is prepared to carry on the tradition. 

A full sister to Grade 1 winner Carl Spackler out of the multiple graded stakes winner Zindaya, Sandtrap returned from an 18-month layoff on Saturday to win a first-level allowance race by 4 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct. She may have earned only an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, but trainer Chad Brown believes there is more to come. 

Unless the field drastically changes in the coming days, trainer Chad Brown plans to run just one horse – Emerging Market – in Kentucky Derby 152 on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Saturday, April 18
Weather: Cloudy 
Temperature: 73 degrees
Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With a forecast that called for a 90 percent chance of showers from mid-morning on, beating the rain became a major objective for the connections of the four potential Kentucky Derby candidates scheduled to work Saturday at Churchill Downs. Fortunately, the local weathermen proved to be very good handicappers, as all four got in those breezes with plenty of room to spare.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Multiple graded stakes winner Bella Ballerina turned in a serious piece of work toward the May 1 Kentucky Oaks on Saturday at Keeneland, sitting behind two stablemates and then passing them on the inside while breezing five furlongs in 1:00.20.

Bella Ballerina and jockey Tyler Gaffalione started off behind stablemates Diamond Eyed Jack and Get Them Roses on the backstretch, and there was still daylight between the Oaks filly and the top pair heading into the far turn. Bella Ballerina made up ground on the turn, then cut the corner inside of her stablemates. 

So Happy has trained forwardly since winning the Santa Anita Derby on April 4, and on Friday morning the Mark Glatt-trained colt posted his first work since the Santa Anita Derby stamped him as a contender for the Kentucky Derby.

Jockey Mike Smith was aboard So Happy for the five-furlong drill in 59.60. He worked in company with a Glatt-trained stablemate.

Glatt said So Happy “broke maybe a half-length off, and then just kind of got to the [workmate] when he wanted to, and got by him slightly.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was a busy morning, starting before dawn, for trainer Brad Cox’s team at Churchill Downs, with three Kentucky Derby candidates, all of whom won major races in the final stage of the prep season, and a potential Kentucky Oaks entrant all breezing beneath the twin spires.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s not how fast they work. It’s how they work fast.

Percy’s Bar, moving deceptively easily with jockey Luan Machado sitting chilly in the irons, turned in a solo work toward the Kentucky Oaks on Thursday morning at Keeneland, going a half-mile in a bullet 47 seconds, according to Keeneland clockers. 

“She tricks you,” trainer Ben Colebrook said of the filly’s ease in turning in strong splits.