LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With little fanfare, the Stephen Foster and Fleur de Lis are no longer being run as handicaps at Churchill Downs. Weight assignments for both races are now made under allowances, furthering a significant policy change by Churchill management. Both Grade 2 races had been run as handicaps since they were inaugurated in 1982 and 1975, respectively.
Maximum Security galloped 1 1/8 miles on Wednesday at Monmouth Park, his bloodwork came back satisfactory late Tuesday, but a decision whether he will start in the $150,000 Pegasus on Sunday will not be made until Thursday when entries are taken, according to trainer Jason Servis.
“I’ll make a decision” Thursday, Servis said. “I don’t want to tell everybody yes and then change my mind. The bloodwork was okay. I think he’s still a little light.
Charles Town has added four consecutive Wednesday race dates to its schedule beginning Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 27. The dates replace cards canceled due to weather conditions over the winter.
The make-up dates will have a first post of 7 p.m. Eastern.
The dates request was approved at the West Virginia Racing Commission meeting Tuesday morning.
Charles Town will race on a Thursday through Saturday schedule until the Wednesday cards begin.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Richard Baltas said he’s leaning toward sending the California upstart One Bad Boy here for the $1 million Queen’s Plate on June 29.
“I’m just trying to figure out the travel arrangements, if we go,” Baltas said. “I’m like 80-20 coming. There’s also a big stakes program for 3-year-olds at Del Mar, and that’s where the owners live. If I go up there, I’m going to probably knock him out for Del Mar. That’s what I’m weighing on right now.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – The waiting wasn’t the hardest part of Belmont Stakes Day for trainer Todd Pletcher.
After going winless with seven horses in five stakes on Saturday’s card, Pletcher was the last trainer standing in the winner’s circle, getting his picture taken with Marconi following the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational.
“I’m glad they had a 13th race yesterday,” Pletcher said Sunday morning.
ELMONT, N.Y. – If any horse benefits from the extension of the Saratoga meet to eight weeks it’s Voodoo Song, who is 5 for 6 at the Spa including a victory in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap last summer at Saratoga.
Voodoo Song, who has not run since last October, is training toward a return to racing, which will coincide with the Saratoga meet, which begins July 11.
On Sunday, Voodoo Song worked a half-mile in 48.21 seconds over the Belmont turf course. It was his second work since returning to trainer Linda Rice’s barn last month.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The multiple stakes winner Hawkish, who had been under consideration for Sunday’s Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park, will miss the bulk of the summer as he recovers from throat surgery, according to trainer Jimmy Toner.
Toner said Hawkish underwent surgery shortly after his victory in the Cliff Hanger Stakes at Monmouth in early May. Toner said the surgery was performed by Dr. Eric Parente at the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Vickie Foley called on a higher power Saturday when it appeared possible that Hog Creek Hustle would be disqualified from victory in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park.
Foley is the daughter of the late Dravo Foley, a popular local trainer whose footsteps she closely followed in a career she started in 1981.
“I was standing out on the racetrack and I said, ‘Please Dad, don’t let them take this horse down,’ ” she recalled. When the Belmont stewards kept the number up, “I got a lot of help,” she surmised.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Steve Asmussen is sorry to see the 2019 Triple Crown go. Not that his stable was a factor in any of the trio of classic races, but the surrounding events proved real bonanzas for the Hall of Fame trainer.
“Without winning a classic, we did have some good weekends,” a smiling Asmussen said early Monday when back at his Churchill Downs barn from New York.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Nearly six months in, the race for the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male is about as wide open as it was on New Year’s Day, setting the stage for a compelling second half of the season, with races like the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby looming large.
For the third time in the last four years, all three Triple Crown races were won by a different horse. In both 2016 and 2017, the Travers proved pivotal, as the winner both those years went on to claim the title.
