ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Following three productive turf starts this winter at Gulfstream Park by Melmich, trainer Kevin Attard said he would likely focus on turf this season for the horse, beginning with the Grade 3, $125,000 Singspiel Stakes over 1 1/2 miles at Woodbine on June 22.
Attard said he would also nominate Melmich to the Grade 3, $125,000 Dominion Day Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on Tapeta on June 30 as a backup option.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Historically, horses that run well in the Woodbine Oaks and Plate Trial Stakes have gone on to have success in the Queen’s Plate. Following Saturday’s running of the Oaks and the Plate Trial, connections of the respective winners, Desert Ride in the Oaks and Pay for Peace in the Plate Trial, said the Queen’s Plate would be under consideration.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Mitole, McKinzie, and Thunder Snow, the first three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, were all scheduled to return to their home bases by the beginning of the week, but all three could very well make their next starts in Saratoga this summer.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Times are dark at Santa Anita Park, which on Sunday declined a recommendation from the California Horse Racing Board to suspend racing for the final seven days of the meet in the wake of another equine fatality on Saturday.
Daily Racing Form reported earlier that Formal Dude sustained a fractured pelvis in the 10th race Saturday and was later euthanized.
Bad fortune continued Sunday when a 3-year-old filly collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack near the conclusion of an allowance turf race.
Trainer Jason Servis said that he was not entirely pleased with Maximum Security on Sunday and that he planned to have blood work done on his 3-year-old star.
Although Servis wouldn’t rule out a start in next Sunday’s $150,000 Pegasus at Monmouth Park, rain is in the forecast over the next few days, and Maximum Security would need to have a workout and his blood work come back clean in order to start.
ELMONT, N.Y. – He may not have had a presence in the Belmont Stakes itself, but trainer Chad Brown dominated the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
Brown won 7 of the 18 stakes at Belmont Park from Thursday to Saturday, highlighted by brilliant performances Saturday from Bricks and Mortar in the Grade 1 Manhattan, Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Just a Game, and Guarana in the Grade 1 Acorn.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After injuring his pelvis in the 10th race Saturday at Santa Anita, the 4-year-old gelding Formal Dude was euthanized Saturday night.
Formal Dude was favored in the $30,000 maiden-claiming route. Jockey Tiago Pereira told trainer Phil D’Amato he felt something wrong and pulled the horse up in the stretch. Formal Dude appeared to favor his right rear leg before being loaded onto the van.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse on Sunday morning was still trying to wrap his head around the conflicted feelings he had following the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, which he won with Sir Winston while seeing War of Will, his Preakness winner, beat one horse.
“It was emotional,” Casse said. “It’s like having two kids, and you’re excited for one son and upset and hurt for the other son.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The top California-based handicap horse will head to Kentucky for his next start, as trainer John Sadler and Hronis Racing find themselves in an enviable position with a glut of top older horses.
Gift Box, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and the runner-up in the Grade 1 Gold Cup in his most recent start, worked five furlongs Sunday at Santa Anita and will start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
