Dallas Stewart went into last month’s Louisiana Derby knowing that a one-two finish with his runner Commanding Curve would put him in the field for the 140th Kentucky Derby.
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Trainer Larry Jones, hospitalized with multiple injuries, including bleeding on the brain, after being thrown from a horse Saturday at Delaware Park, was reported Monday to be making significant progress, according to one of his owners.
Jones has been taken out of a coma doctors induced Saturday, and the bleeding on his brain had gone down 50 percent, according to Rick Porter, an owner and friend of the Joneses who spoke with Larry’s wife, Cindy.
With Cairo Prince out of the 140th Kentucky Derby with an injury and Midnight Hawk removed from consideration following his second-place finish in the Illinois Derby on Saturday, spots opened in the prospective field for Vinceremos and Harry’s Holiday, and more scoreboard watching will be done as horses begin to arrive at Churchill Downs for their final works for the May 3 Derby.
A trio of prospects worked Monday, and their status will affect the final lineup for the Derby, for which entries will be drawn April 30. A maximum of 20 horses can run, with up to four also-eligibles.
Standing up for Asmussen
At a time when it has become very popular to bash trainer Steve Asmussen, I would like to take exception with that. In my nearly 40 years as a trainer, I don’t think I have seen a person more unfairly treated or have seen a quicker rush to judgment. What has gone on over the last two months has been nothing less than a public lynching.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Irving Orozco, who has not ridden since March 22, has been suspended for failing to appear at a hearing with Santa Anita stewards to explain his absence from riding.
Orozco did not appear at Santa Anita on March 27. The next day, he was removed from his mounts for the programs of March 28-30.
Orozco, 20, was scheduled to meet with stewards on Saturday, according to steward Tom Ward.
“We haven’t heard word one from him,” Ward said.
Larry Jones, the trainer of 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, is in the intensive care unit of Christiana Hospital in Delaware with two fractured ribs, a bruised lung, and bleeding on the brain after being thrown from a horse during Saturday morning training hours at Delaware Park.
According to Deidre Jackson, an assistant trainer for Jones, the bleeding of the brain does not require surgery.
“As long as it doesn’t get any worse, it looks like he’s going to be okay,” Jackson said Saturday night by phone. “So far, it’s as good as it can be right now.”
Bond Holder, the winner of the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita last September, has been euthanized after a battle with laminitis, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Saturday.
Bond Holder had been undergoing treatment at a Florida equine clinic in the last five weeks for the hoof disease. His condition recently took a turn for the worse, O’Neill said.
“We’re all pretty heartbroken,” he said.
The live racing card for Monday at Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack has been canceled.
The track said that the severe winter has resulted in fewer horses than usual being ready to race, and that the Monday card was being eliminated to "stabilize the remaining days of the schedule early in the season."
Racing is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin fretted for two weeks whether Cairo Prince would have enough points to make it into the Kentucky Derby field. One week after learning that Cairo Prince would indeed make it, McLaughlin had to withdraw the horse from consideration for the 140th Derby due to an injury to his left front ankle.
"This is the toughest day in my career as a trainer to have to make this announcement," McLaughlin said by phone Saturday from south Florida.
"All the owners are understanding; hopefully the horse is fine."