WHO’S HOT

The curse of Apollo was lifted four years ago. But the curse of Leonatus endures.

Until Justify came along and won the Kentucky Derby in 2018, no horse had won the race without having competed as a 2-year-old since Apollo in 1882.

Leonatus, who won the Derby in 1883, largely has been forgotten to history, even though his record on the track and at stud are terrific.

Grants Pass Downs in Oregon will not conduct a 2022 live race meet, the track announced on Tuesday, citing a recent decision by the state racing commission to deny the track a license to operate historical horse-racing machines.

Grants Pass was scheduled to run 38 live racing dates this year, spread out from mid-May until late October. The track opened for training earlier this month.

Former jockey Julio Pezua suffered two fractured vertebrae and other injuries in a spill at Belmont Park on April 2 and remains hospitalized.

Pezua was working Five Alarm Robin, a 6-year-old mare, for trainer Linda Rice when that horse suffered a fatal cardiovascular collapse, fell while galloping out, and unseated Pezua.

A hearing to consider an appeal of the 90-day suspension given to trainer Bob Baffert by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has been pushed back to June 28, Baffert’s attorney said Monday.

The hearing, which will take place in front of a hearing officer appointed by the racing commission, was scheduled to begin April 18. Baffert’s attorney, however, said Monday that the hearing is now scheduled to begin June 28.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Taiba, the brilliant inexperienced colt, will attempt to make Kentucky Derby history at Churchill Downs on May 7.

Taiba won his second start and stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and could be the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby in his third start since Leonatus in 1883. No horse has started in the Kentucky Derby with so little experience since China Visit finished sixth in 2000.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland set up the dogs and opened its turf course for breezes Sunday morning, and Chad Brown – no surprise – had noteworthy workers. 

Brown’s two intended runners for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes, Shantisara and Regal Glory, worked in company. They were followed shortly by Brown’s Masen and Public Sector, expected entrants for Friday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Maker’s Mark Mile.  

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though Joel Rosario rode Mo Donegal to victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, trainer Todd Pletcher anticipates having Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard the horse in the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, the trainer said Sunday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Epicenter closed as a lukewarm favorite late Saturday afternoon in the fifth and final pool in the 2022 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which Churchill Downs offered with a new wrinkle.

Greg Avioli’s resignation as president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, announced April 1, occurred five weeks after Avioli was arrested for domestic violence, and a little more than two weeks after his wife had a temporary restraining order removed in lieu of a Superior Court judge signing off on protocols for Avioli that include “anger management treatment and substance abuse training,” according to records in San Diego County Superior Court.