ELMONT, N.Y. – Personally, trainer Jeremiah Englehart wasn’t enjoying his Memorial Day holiday, battling allergies and a sinus infection as he watched the proceedings at Belmont Park from his home in Saratoga.
“I wasn’t having a lot of fun watching until his race,” Englehart said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Paradise Woods will be a massive favorite to win Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita against a familiar field.
Trained by John Shirreffs, Paradise Woods won the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8 miles by 10 1/2 lengths on April 27 for her first win since September 2017. In the $200,000 Santa Maria, at 1 1/16 miles, Paradise Woods will face the second- through fourth-place finishers from the Santa Margarita – La Force, Exuberance, and Just a Smidge.
ARCADIA, Calif. – It was not until Tuesday evening, more than 24 hours after Bolo won the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita, that trainer Carla Gaines sat down to watch the race on her mobile phone.
The immediate celebration after Monday’s race, and concern about the health of her popular Labrador retriever Louie, a fixture in the Santa Anita stables, kept Gaines occupied Monday evening and through Tuesday.
Runaway Ghost is scheduled to spend his summer chasing graded stakes races, with the first target the Grade 2, $600,000 Stephen Foster.
“That’s what we’re aiming for right now,” trainer Todd Fincher said Wednesday.
The Stephen Foster, which is June 15 at Churchill Downs, will be run at a mile and an eighth. Runaway Ghost has made two starts at the distance and won them both, first taking the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby in 2018, then the $150,000 Sunland Park Handicap in his most recent start May 4.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Master Fencer had some inflammation in his left front ankle Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after he took an awkward step and stumbled toward the end of a workout in preparation for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes here on June 8.
“He’s got just a little bit of inflammation in a left front ankle that he didn’t have yesterday,” said Vincent DiCicco, a veterinarian who is not treating Master Fencer but is monitoring the horse for the USDA while he is stabled in New York.
Wednesday, May 29
BELMONT PARK
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 61
Track: Fast
ELMONT, N.Y. – Japanese invader Master Fencer was considered to be one of the “buzz” horses heading into this year’s Belmont Stakes coming off his very encouraging seventh-place finish (placed sixth) in the Kentucky Derby during which he made up nearly 20 lengths on the leaders through the final six furlongs of the race.
Ty Kennedy, a farm boy from Kansas, has been sowing the seeds for a successful career as a jockey over the past several years.
Kennedy turns 25 in July but didn’t start riding professionally until he was 20, having promised his mother he’d give college a try. Kennedy won just one race from 66 mounts during his first season in 2014 but had a decent run as a Southern California bug boy in 2015 and has increased his annual win total every year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – California trainers who sent split strings to Kentucky this spring got away to a fast start at the Keeneland meet, but things have been different so far at Churchill.
Through Monday, trainers Peter Miller (1 for 22) and Phil D’Amato (0 for 8) were having little impact at this meet. From the West Coast contingent, only Bob Baffert (2 for 14) had registered more than one win at the meet, which began April 27.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – What is this, 2009 or something? Just like that, Julien Leparoux has zoomed to the top of the Churchill Downs jockey standings, buoyed by a hot streak reminiscent of an era when he dominated here.
Leparoux reeled off eight wins from just 11 mounts in a two-day period last weekend at Churchill, booting home three winners Sunday and five Monday. It was a performance to recall some of his best days here, most notably a seven-win day in November 2008 that tied the track record set by Pat Day in 1984.
