Wed, 04/24/2024 - 11:50

Tapalo headed to New York for statebred stakes

Benoit Photo
Multiple Grade 3 winner Kirstenbosch is nearing a return this fall.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tapalo, the Southern California-based stakes-placed 3-year-old, could be traveling this spring. Trainer John Sadler said the New York-bred will be considered for statebred stakes this spring and summer. It was reported earlier that the Mark Glatt-trained California-based Ball Don’t Lie also will look toward the New York-bred stakes program.

Wed, 04/24/2024 - 11:20

Kopion to get break after shin issues

Benoit Photo
Kopion finished a disappointing fourth in the Santa Anita Oaks earlier this month and was later diagnosed with shin issues.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It turns out Kopion had an alibi for finishing a distant fourth in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 6. Kopion, winner of the Grade 3 seven-furlong Santa Ynez and runner-up in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes at one mile, lost the Santa Anita Oaks by 16 lengths as the 2.30-1 second choice.

Trainer Richard Mandella said Kopion “came out of the race and appeared perfectly sound, but we scanned her and her shin bones lit up. They were aching a little bit, remodeling, growing-up stuff.”

Wed, 04/24/2024 - 11:20

Super Shine gives D'Amato another top dirt female

Benoit Photo
Last out in the Grade 2 Santa Maria, Super Shine (inside) finished second to Coffee in Bed (outside).

ARCADIA, Calif. – Super Shine’s runner-up U.S. debut in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes on April 21 gives trainer Phil D’Amato a top older dirt female for spring, while D’Amato-trained Desert Dawn will get a break following her third-place finish as the odds-on favorite.

Tue, 04/23/2024 - 15:09

2024 Kentucky Derby Clocker: Fierceness makes first appearance on Churchill Downs track

Barbara D. Livingston
Fierceness gallops an easy mile on the Churchill Downs main track Tuesday morning.

Churchill Downs
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 48 degrees
Track: Fast 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tuesday, predictably, turned out to be pretty uneventful morning at Churchill Downs when it came to monitoring preparations for the upcoming Kentucky Derby and Oaks, with the main news of the day, for both races, coming out of South Florida at Gulfstream Park.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:00

Stakes winner Gregorian Chant retired

Emily Shields
Gregorian Chant won the Clocker’s Corner Stakes and Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes in 2021.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gregorian Chant, a two-time stakes winner who raced primarily in Southern California from the spring of 2019 until earlier this month, has been retired.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Sunday that the 8-year-old Gregorian Chant will be sent to owner Andrew Molasky’s ranch in Las Vegas, Nev., later this month.

“He had zero issues,” D’Amato said. “He showed me in his last race he didn’t want to run anymore. He was good to us.”

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 13:00

Two Rivers Over could make next start in Met Mile

Dubai Racing Club/Liesl King
Two Rivers Over won the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai last month.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two Rivers Over, the upset winner of the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai on March 30, worked a half-mile in 49.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday for a potential start in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at a mile during the Belmont Racing Festival at Saratoga.

The $1 million Met Mile is one of the nation’s leading races at the distance on dirt.

Two Rivers Over had his first workout on Sunday for trainer Doug O’Neill since the successful Dubai trip in which he rallied from the middle of a 13-horse field to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:25

Wright hoping both his runners get into San Francisco Mile

Vassar Photography
Clovisconnection is part of a Blaine Wright-trained duo that is hopeful for the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields.

Ideally, both Clovisconnection and Prince Abu Dhabi would represent trainer Blaine Wright’s stable in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields, the final stakes before the track’s scheduled closure on June 9.

Wright, it appears, is not alone among people seeking to support the $175,000 turf race. The San Francisco Mile will be limited to 12 starters, and is likely to draw an oversubscribed field when entries are compiled on Wednesday.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Kentucky Derby: Fierceness, Sierra Leone arrive at Churchill

Barbara D. Livingston
Sierra Leone gallops over the Churchill track Monday morning.

Fierceness and Sierra Leone, the expected first two choices for the Kentucky Derby, arrived on the Churchill grounds about 16 hours apart.

Fierceness, the 2023 2-year-old champion and dominant Florida Derby winner, arrived about 4 a.m. following a van ride from his winter base at Palm Beach Downs.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Kentucky Derby: Jose Ortiz named to ride Catalytic

Barbara D. Livingston
Catalytic finished second, beaten 13 1/2 lengths, to Fierceness in the Florida Derby.

Jose Ortiz has been named to ride Florida Derby runner-up and Kentucky Derby longshot Catalytic, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Monday.

Ortiz, whose best finish from eight Derby mounts is a second in 2018 aboard Good Magic, replaces Julien Leparoux, who rode Catalytic in the Florida Derby, where he was beaten 13 1/2 lengths by Fierceness.

Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:10

Kentucky Derby: Mott goes back to the well with Resilience, Just F Y I

Barbara D. Livingston
Just F Y I got the last quarter-mile of her sparkling 59.86 five-furlong work in 23.71. Last week she worked a half in 50.

Just four days after Resilience and Just F Y I put in their first workouts over the Churchill Downs main track in preparation for their starts in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, trainer Bill Mott sent the 3-year-olds out for their second workouts Monday morning on a clear, cool morning in Louisville.

“We didn’t do much the other day. I wanted to see a good work far enough out where it wasn’t going to compromise them but yet benefit them,” Mott said, explaining the quick turnaround.