Thu, 05/16/2024 - 10:53

Weaver will challenge suspension for metformin positive

Coady Media
George Weaver was cited for a metformin positive, likely the result of contamination, for the horse Anna's Wish.

George Weaver, the East Coast-based trainer, has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Wagering Unit after a confirmation test was positive for metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes in humans, according to his attorney, but he plans to challenge the suspension on the grounds of accidental contamination.

Thu, 05/16/2024 - 09:40

Preakness: Loyalty the key to McPeek-Hernandez partnership

Brian Hernandez Jr. after Kentucky Derby May 4 2024
Debra A. Roma
Brian Hernandez Jr. (above) and Kenny McPeek won both the Kentucky Derby and Oaks this year.

BALTIMORE – Kenny McPeek acknowledged that in his younger days as a trainer, he would get enamored chasing the big-name jockeys such as Pat Day or Jerry Bailey to ride for him.

As time went on, McPeek’s philosophy changed. He wanted a rider that would put in the necessary time at the barn in the mornings, presumably to be better prepared for the afternoons.

Tue, 05/14/2024 - 11:17

Preakness: Mystik Dan enjoys the calm in routine gallop

Barbara D. Livingston
Mystik Dan gallops 1 1/2 miles under Robby Albarado Tuesday morning at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE -- Mystik Dan took another leisurely stroll over the Pimlico main track Tuesday morning, galloping about 1 1/2 miles over a fast main track as preparations for Saturday’s $2 million Preakness continued on a quiet, overcast morning.

Mystik Dan came on the track following the 8 a.m. renovation break and jogged about seven furlongs the wrong way from the gap at the three-sixteenths pole to about the sixteenth pole. After standing a few minutes, Mystik Dan broke into an easy, controlled gallop over a dry track unlike the sealed muddy surface that greeted him Monday.

Mon, 05/13/2024 - 17:36

Classy group headlines Preakness undercard stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
The Preakness undercard will feature eight stakes races, topped by the Grade 3 Dinner Party Stakes, going 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

A competitive field of 12 entered Saturday’s Grade 3, $500,000 Dinner Party Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles on the Pimlico turf.

Emmanuel (post 10, Jose Ortiz), a five-time graded stakes winner, drops out of the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile, a race where he set the pace before fading to fifth, 7 1/2 lengths behind reigning Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Master of The Seas. Emmanuel finished third in the Dinner Party last year, off a seventh-place finish in the Maker's Mark Mile.

Mon, 05/13/2024 - 14:05

Preakness Stakes: Lukas returns to a place where he's been happy, successful

BALTIMORE – D. Wayne Lukas still remembers coming through the Pimlico stable gate the morning after Codex defeated the Kentucky Derby-winning filly Genuine Risk in the 1980 Preakness and being handed a bag of mail from the security guard.

“I’m feeling pretty good, just won my first classic. He says, ‘Wow, you got a bag of mail, lot of telegrams came in overnight’ and he gives me the mailbag,” Lukas recalled Monday morning at Pimlico. “I sit down in the tack room, [former Daily Racing Form executive columnist] Joe Hirsch sits down there and I start to open them.

Sun, 05/12/2024 - 17:00

Subsanador, Judge Miller work for Gold Cup

Benoit Photo
Judge Miller will wear blinkers for the first time in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Judge Miller, second as the 3-10 favorite in the Grade 3 Californian Stakes on April 20, and Subsanador, a game second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3 in his most recent start, worked over the weekend for scheduled appearances in the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27.

Judge Miller worked six furlongs in 1:13 on Saturday under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. Judge Miller was fitted with blinkers for the workout, and will wear the equipment for the first time in the $200,000 Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles.

Sun, 05/12/2024 - 16:53

Tamara targets Great Lady M. Stakes in July for next start

Barbara D. Livingston
Tamara is unraced since placing seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in November.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Tamara, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante last September, is scheduled to have her 2024 debut in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes against older fillies and mares at Los Alamitos on July 6.

Unraced since a seventh-place finish as the 4-5 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in November, Tamara has had a steady pattern of workouts in the last month for trainer Richard Mandella.

On Saturday, Tamara, 3, worked a half-mile in 47 seconds, the quickest of 59 works at the distance.

Sun, 05/12/2024 - 16:37

Red Route One leads field for Friday's Pimlico Special

Barbara D. Livingston
Joel Rosario will ride Red Route One in Friday's Pimlico Special at Pimlico.

Red Route One, fourth in last year’s Preakness Stakes, drew post 5 in Friday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Pimlico Special for 3-year-olds and up racing 1 3/16 miles.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Red Route One captured the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic on March 23 at Fair Grounds, then placed third in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap – his most recent start – on April 20.

The late-running colt by Gun Runner, a Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred, will be ridden by Joel Rosario.

Sun, 05/12/2024 - 16:06

Golden Gate Fields cancels two more days of racing due to lack of entries

Barbara D. Livingston
Golden Gate Fields has lost four days of racing this spring because of insufficient entries.

Citing a lack of available runners, Golden Gate Fields has canceled racing this Friday and on May 24, the track’s racing office announced midday on Sunday.

The track has lost four days of racing this spring because of insufficient entries in advance of its permanent closure on June 9. Racing was not held on April 19 or May 1 because of a lack of entries.

Sun, 05/12/2024 - 14:07

Pletcher seeks fifth Belmont triumph with Antiquarian

Barbara D. Livingston
Antiquarian was given an 88 Beyer Speed Figure for Saturday's Peter Pan triumph at Aqueduct.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - On Saturday, Antiquarian gave trainer Todd Pletcher his fifth victory in the Peter Pan Stakes. In four weeks, Antiquarian will try to give Pletcher his fifth victory in the Belmont Stakes.

None of Pletcher’s four previous Peter Pan winners was successful in the Belmont. Of the three who ran back in the Belmont, Sunriver in 2004 managed to finish third. In 2014, the Pletcher-trained Commissioner, who finished second in the Peter Pan to Tonalist, came back to run second, beaten a nose, by Tonalist in the Belmont.