GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Express Kid, the runner-up in the Sunland Park Derby who had been under consideration for the Preakness Stakes, had a minor physical setback and is scheduled to return to action in the fall, according to his trainer, Justin Evans.
Express Kid is based at Lone Star Park. Last year, he won the Springboard Mile at Remington Park.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – It was 29 years ago this spring when Southern California-based trainer Bob Baffert traveled to Lone Star Park during its inaugural meet and saddled Anet to win the track’s Derby.
Fast forward to Monday, and Baffert will be looking for his fifth win in the race when he sends out Desert Gate in the $300,000 Texas Derby.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. is taking the long view with Navajo Warrior, who stretched out to 1 3/16 miles and won the Grade 3 Pimlico Special on the Black-Eyed Susan card at Laurel. After the race, he said he dreamed of getting the 5-year-old gelding ready for the $20 million Saudi Cup next year, but the road to get there might include many stops.
My Miss Mo and Jumping the Gun, the winner and runner-up in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan last Friday at Laurel Park, may part ways for now. Trainers Saffie Joseph Jr. and Andy Simoff have different goals for their 3-year-old fillies this summer, which could create a fork in the road, but both are planning returns to graded stakes company soon.
For the briefest moment at the top of the stretch at Laurel, Jumping the Gun pulled alongside My Miss Mo and ran on even terms with the 5-2 favorite, proving to be the only legitimate challenger to the eventual winner.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The wins, at two venues, came more than eight months apart and were accomplished in the same manner.
He’s a Knockout was quick enough to set the pace and too fast to catch in sprint races for California-bred maidens on turf at Del Mar last August, and again at Santa Anita on April 19 in an allowance race.
For his third start, He’s a Knockout has a significantly different assignment in Saturday’s $125,000 Snow Chief Stakes for statebreds at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
The 4-year-old Irish-bred filly Midnight Horizon has had a challenging build-up to her American debut in an allowance race at six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Earlier this month, Midnight Horizon worked five furlongs in 58 seconds on the infield synthetic training track in company with the graded stakes winner El Potente.
El Potente, a candidate for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita on May 25, and Midnight Horizon are trained by Dan Blacker.
Vodka Vodka, second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, will miss the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 25 because of foot issues.
Trainer and co-owner Aggie Ordonez said on Friday that Vodka Vodka emerged from a win in his last start in the $250,000 Sunland Park Handicap in New Mexico on April 5 with a bruised foot.
“When he ran at Sunland Park, he stumbled at the break and pulled a shoe off,” Ordonez said. “We’ve had some repercussions from that. He bruised the foot. He’s blown a couple of abscesses out.”
The Puma, scratched from the Kentucky Derby the morning of the race due to a swollen pastern apparently resulting from a skin infection in his leg, returned to his home base at Gulfstream Park on Thursday where he’ll continue preparations for the second half of his 3-year-old campaign.
The current plan is to launch his comeback in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18.
When the 4-year-old colt Baeza, among the handful of best 3-year-old dirt-route horses during his 2025 campaign, was moved into Bill Mott’s stable early this year, Mott figured the day would come when Baeza would square off with his stable’s star, Sovereignty, the very best 3-year-old dirt route horse of 2025.
That day will come sooner rather than later with Baeza, Mott confirmed Thursday, a likely runner in the Stephen Foster Stakes on June 27 at Churchill Downs.
The speedy stakes winner Boss Sully is unlikely to race again in the near future after a win in his 2026 debut in the Siren Lure Stakes at six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Trainer Brian Koriner said earlier this week that Boss Sully will be raced sparingly this year, with the goal of running in lucrative stakes leading to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
“We know he runs good fresh,” he said. “We’re not in a hurry to do anything.”
