Trainer Tom Amoss confirmed early Monday that the filly Ria Antonia will race in the Preakness and will have Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel aboard.
“It’s time to roll the dice,” said Amoss, acknowledging the filly will be a long price. “California Chrome is absolutely the horse to beat, but beyond that, I think we’re in the mix.”
In Louisville, Ky., California Chrome was among the first horses to step onto a fast Churchill Downs surface early Monday before being guided through a routine 1 1/2-mile gallop by exercise rider Willie Delgado.
California Chrome was sent earlier than normal by assistant trainer Alan Sherman so as to be fully prepared when a horse van picked up the colt at about 10 a.m. Eastern for the short ride to Lexington, from where he and 12 others would be flown to Baltimore via equine charter.
ARCADIA, Calif .- Eddie’s First lowered the course record for about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf at Santa Anita on Sunday, leading throughout to finish in 1:10.73.
The clocking beat the previous mark of 1:11.10 set by California Flag in the Grade 3 Morvich Handicap in September 2008.
A field of 11 3-year-old fillies, led by the Todd Pletcher pair of Sloane Square and Stopchargingmaria, has been entered in the Grade 2, $500,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, highlight of the Preakness Eve card Friday at Pimlico in Baltimore.
Sloane Square will be making her first start since finishing second as the favorite in the Bourbonette Stakes at Turfway Park, while Stopchargingmaria, a multiple graded stakes winner, will be trying to rebound off a fourth-place finish in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Big Macher, the winner of two sprint stakes at Santa Anita this year, showed improved soundness in his right front foot on Sunday morning after being vanned off following a workout on Saturday.
Trainer Richard Baltas said on Sunday that it was unclear whether Big Macher had sustained an injury. He said tests will be done in coming days if the 4-year-old Big Macher does not show continued improvement.
“It’s better,” Baltas said. “We’ll soak the foot again today.
Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome came onto the track for his daily routine early Sunday morning. Under regular exercise rider Willie Delgado, the colt spent about 20 minutes on the track, backtracking to the wire in a jog, then galloping about 1 3/4 miles. As usual, everything was accomplished rather slowly, carefully, and without incident.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Rafael Bejarano, the leading rider in Southern California, faces an undetermined period away from racing after sustaining breaks to his collarbone, a rib, and both of his shoulder blades in a one-horse spill at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Joe Ferrer, Bejarano’s agent, said in a text on Sunday morning that he was waiting to hear from doctors about Bejarano’s recovery period. The jockey is likely to face several months on the sidelines. His absence will lead to widespread changes in the jockey standings in Southern California.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ria Antonia breezed a half-mile in 47.60 seconds early Sunday at Churchill Downs in preparation for a possible run against males in the Preakness. Trainer Tom Amoss said afterward he expected a decision on whether to send the filly to Pimlico in Baltimore would be made no later than Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Frank Mirahmadi will replace Trevor Denman as Santa Anita’s announcer for two weeks in June, the track announced in a statement on Saturday.
Mirahmadi, 46, will describe the action for 10 racing days, from June 12 through June 27. Denman, 61, will call at Santa Anita through June 8, and return for the final weekend of the current spring-summer meeting, June 27-28.
Denman, the South African native who has been Santa Anita’s announcer since October 1983, will also call the races at the Del Mar summer meeting, which runs from July 17 to Sept. 3.
Pablo Del Monte, scratched off the also-eligibles list in the Derby to await the Preakness, breezed six furlongs Saturday in 1:12.20 over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland.
In company with a 3-year-old filly named High Wire Kitten, Pablo Del Monte went in splits of 12.20, 24.80, 36.60, and 48.40, with a seven-furlong out time of 1:25. He finished well clear of his workmate, who went six furlongs in 1:13.
“Pablo Del Monte is doing absolutely super,” said trainer Wesley Ward.
Pablo Del Monte will be on the same Monday charter as California Chrome.
