ARCADIA, Calif. -- Marianne Millard, a longtime owner and breeder in California who was co-breeder of the graded stakes winner Melair and the owner of Here Tis Ranch, died recently, according to a statement on the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association’s website.
Millard, who had battled illness in recent years, according to friends, was 91.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Holiday or not, it was back to some serious business for White Abarrio on Easter Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The $1 million Florida Derby winner turned in the first of his three scheduled works leading up to the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs with an easy three furlongs in 34.49 followed by a very impressive-looking gallop out.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said an unidentified male was found shot to death at the Palm Beach Downs Training Center in Delray early Saturday morning.
Palm Beach Downs is a privately owned, satellite training facility that serves as the winter home for trainers Todd Pletcher and George Weaver along with several other smaller stables. Pletcher, who was in New York on Saturday, confirmed the dead man was a groom currently in his employ.
Champion Letruska has been assigned highweight of 124 pounds for the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap next Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares will be taken Monday. The weights were released Saturday.
Letruska won last year’s Apple Blossom as part of a campaign for which she earned the Eclipse Award for outstanding older female of 2021.
Ce Ce, who was the champion female sprinter of 2021, was assigned 121 pounds. Grade 1 winner Clairiere also is weighted at 121.
Un Ojo is bound for the Kentucky Derby after a Saturday morning work that satisfied his trainer, Ricky Courville. The drill came at the horse’s Copper Crowne training center base near Lafayette, La.
Un Ojo worked five furlongs in 1:03.15 on a fast track, Courville said. The horse went by himself. Un Ojo is the one-eyed winner of the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn; the 50 points he earned in the February race secured his spot in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The unbeaten Kathleen O., expected to be among the favorites for a strong edition of the Kentucky Oaks in less than three weeks, was chief among the 3-year-old fillies who breezed Saturday morning at Keeneland in advance of the spring classic.
Working shortly after the first morning renovation break on the fast main track, Kathleen O. was credited by Keeneland clockers with a half-mile in 48.60 seconds. It was her first work since winning the Gulfstream Park Oaks on April 2 to remain unbeaten in four career starts.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Slow Down Andy has been withdrawn from consideration for the Kentucky Derby after recently spiking a temperature at Keeneland, trainer Doug O’Neill confirmed Saturday morning.
Slow Down Andy had made the 20-horse cutoff for the May 7 Derby by winning the March 27 Sunland Derby, but the Nyquist colt missed a scheduled workout here this weekend after taking ill. The news was first reported by Horse Racing Nation.
Mighty Heart and Mark Casse were the big winners at Thursday’s 47th annual Sovereign Awards ceremony covering the 2021 Canadian Thoroughbred racing season at the Universal Eventspace in the Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario.
Mighty Heart garnered Canadian Horse of the Year honors for the second year in a row on the strength of his victories in Churchill’s Blame Stakes and in the Grade 2 Autumn and Grade 3 Dominion Day at Woodbine. Owned by Larry Cordes, the one-eyed Josie Carroll trainee took the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes in 2021.
The New Jersey Racing Commission has banned trainer Cody Axmaker for two years after a horse he trained died last year at Monmouth Park and a necropsy indicated the horse had overdosed on clenbuterol, a highly regulated bronchial dilator, according to a ruling from the commission’s board of stewards.
