WHO’S HOT
Sierra Leone’s impressive 98 Beyer Speed Figure victory in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland cemented his status as one of the top choices in the Kentucky Derby; Derby Watch linemaker David Aragona lowered Sierra Leone to 7-2, a tick below 3-1 favorite Fierceness.
Phil Schoenthal, a trainer based at Laurel Park in Maryland who races throughout the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after two of his horses tested positive for methamphetamine, a banned substance that is in the process of being re-categorized under HIWU’s rules.
Schoenthal declined to comment on the details of the positives on Wednesday morning, but he said he was in the process of gathering information to defend himself.
A Kentucky Circuit Court judge in Jefferson County has scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider a request for a temporary injunction that would permit Amr Zedan to start his horse Muth in this year’s Kentucky Derby despite a ban placed by Churchill Downs on the colt’s trainer.
The judge, Mitch Perry, scheduled the hearing after a brief appearance by attorneys for Zedan and Churchill Downs Inc. in his courtroom on Monday morning.
The Beyer Speed Figure for the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes run Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds has been upgraded by five points. Originally given a 90 for winning that race, Sierra Leone now has a 95. All other horses in the field also received a five-point upgrade.
The winning streak began rather anonymously during the lunch hour at Santa Anita on Saturday with a win aboard the well-regarded colt Ball Don’t Like in a maiden race for sprinters.
By mid-afternoon, the world-famous jockey Frankie Dettori had won six consecutive races, including two stakes, sweeping the second through seventh races.
Dettori was on the verge of equaling, and perhaps surpassing, the track’s all-time record of seven wins in a day set by Laffit Pincay Jr. in March 1987.
It was not to be.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Grade 1-winning millionaires Adare Manor and Wet Paint lead a field of nine fillies and mares for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken Sunday.
The Apple Blossom will share a card with the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, led by 125-pound highweight Skelly. First post for the 12-race card will be noon Central.
Trainer Brett Brinkman is continuing to savor the first Grade 1 victory of his career with Alva Starr, whom he also co-bred with P. Dale Ladner, while looking ahead to other Grade 1 races this season with the filly.
“The training aspect of it hasn’t quite hit home, I don’t think," Brinkman said of Alva Starr, who won Saturday’s Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland by a half-length over Vahva. “The breeding aspect of it really means a lot to me.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After shipping cross-country to win the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday, Where’s My Ring will make a bit shorter journey to Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks on May 3, trainer Val Brinkerhoff said Sunday.
Brinkerhoff said Where’s My Ring will stay in New York for about a week before shipping to Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Bill Mott knew he’d be running in something on Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs. Unsure about the Derby itself, Mott had his wife Tina make plane reservations to return home to upstate New York Saturday night. Takeoff is 6:05 p.m.
“I said if we’re not in the Derby, we’ll run these other horses, go to the airport and watch it on the plane,” Mott said. “I guess now we’ll stick around a bit.”
