ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Shug McGaughey feels Code of Honor has become the forgotten horse in the 3-year-old division.
Part of that is because since he finished third – elevated to second with the disqualification from first of Maximum Security – in the Kentucky Derby, Code of Honor has not run. But he is training, and on Sunday, he put in a solid five-furlong move in 1:00.33 over the Belmont main track.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Of the close to 400 horses to put in timed workouts over three tracks at Belmont Park on Sunday, few, if any, were more impressive than dual Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy, who blazed five furlongs in 58.82 seconds over the main track.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Texas Belle can sweeten the outstanding meet trainer Mindy Willis is having at Lone Star Park on Sunday in the $50,000 Lane’s End Danny Shifflett Scholarship Stakes. The mare will start as one of the top choices in the turf route, one of four stakes on the inaugural Lone Star Showcase Day.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The return of local favorite Galleon Mast, postponed when rain forced the Soldier’s Dancer Stakes to be taken off the turf two weeks earlier, will finally take place Sunday, weather permitting. Galleon Mast, a multiple stakes winner, faces nine others going a mile on turf in the best of three allowance events on a 12-race program at Gulfstream Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Desert Ride, who used an allowance victory on the Keeneland turf in April as a springboard to victory earlier this month in the Woodbine Oaks, had her final pre-race breeze for the Queen’s Plate when going five furlongs in 1:02.60 early Friday at Churchill.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rudy Brisset is taking the good with the bad. The 35-year-old trainer was nearly giddy with the way Quip performed last week when second in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs, but he’s also saddened by the recent loss of one of his stable stars, My Majestic Rose.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – With the 160th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate set for next Saturday, the field for the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown is taking shape. A field of 12 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds appears likely for the 1 1/4-mile journey over Woodbine’s Tapeta, including a pair of maidens trained by Michael De Paulo – Rising Star and Moon Swings.
Both maidens ran in the Plate Trial on June 8, with Rising Star coming from well off the pace to be third and Moon Swings racing in midpack early and finishing fourth.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board voted unanimously to withdraw from the Association of Racing Commissioners International organization on Thursday, stating that recently implemented rules in California reflect a “dramatic” change between the state’s racing policies and that of other jurisdictions.
In recent months, California has enacted stringent medication and inspection rules for horses entered to train or race following a series of equine fatalities at Santa Anita since late December.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A couple of veteran sprinters who have spent the majority of their careers in the claiming ranks, Royal Squeeze and Fast Pass, could realize the dream of becoming a graded stakes winner when they meet in the Grade 3, $250,000 Smile Sprint, the co-feature along with the Grade 2 Princess Rooney on the Summit of Speed card here June 29.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sadler’s Joy, winner of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer in 2017, has twice worked three furlongs this month at Belmont Park and is targeting a return to the races in the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga on July 27, trainer Tom Albertrani said Thursday.
Sadler’s Joy has not started since he finished third behind Enable in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs last November. Albertrani said it was by design that Sadler’s Joy did not run at Gulfstream Park during the winter. He won graded stakes at Gulfstream in both 2017 and 2018.
