John Franks was the backbone of breeding and racing in Louisiana for years, and next month Louisiana Downs will honor the late Eclipse Award winner as part of its new Racing Hall of Fame announced Friday.
The inaugural class, determined by committee, also will include Sunday Silence and Free Spirits Joy; trainers Frank L. Brothers and C.W. Walker; jockeys Ron Ardoin and Larry Snyder; and original track owner Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Dan Eidson, a veteran racing official who has worked throughout the United States, was dismissed as Santa Anita’s racing director on Thursday.
Eidson declined to comment on the situation when reached by phone Friday. He is the second leading racing executive to depart Santa Anita in the last six months. Last December, Rick Hammerle was released as racing secretary, and was replaced in January by Steve Lym, a former racing executive at Woodbine.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Nolo Contesto, fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6 in his stakes debut, underwent a procedure to remove an undescended testicle earlier this spring and is scheduled to start in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on June 16, trainer John Sadler said.
The $100,000 Affirmed Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles. Sadler had considered sending Nolo Contesto to Belmont Park for the Easy Goer Stakes on June 8, but has opted to remain in California.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Through her remarkable campaign of 12 wins in 14 starts since being claimed for $40,000 in February 2018, Vasilika has raced exclusively at Del Mar and Santa Anita, winning seven graded stakes.
Vasilika, who won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita last Monday, may have her next start outside of California, in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 3/16 miles on turf at Arlington Park on Aug. 10.
“We might look at that,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Bourbon War, a horse who got a lot of support heading into the Preakness Stakes only to finish eighth, will attempt to make amends in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 8, trainer Mark Hennig said Friday.
Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith, who won last year’s Belmont on Triple Crown winner Justify, will ride Bourbon War, Hennig said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Lou Tucci has fond memories of his first Queen’s Plate victory as an owner in 2013 when Midnight Aria took the field gate-to-wire to spring a 16-1 upset over favored Up With the Birds. Tucci is back on the Queen’s Plate trail this year, as co-owner of the highly regarded Skywire, but admits the lead up to the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on June 29 is much different this time around.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In most other years, the first weekend of June is a big one for the Kentucky Derby winner. It’s the weekend before the Belmont Stakes, and a final pre-race breeze is typically in order.
But this is no ordinary year. Not with all the tumult surrounding California racing. Not with the Derby disqualification. And not with the horse declared the Derby winner getting sick a few days afterward.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Instagrand, the beaten favorite in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on Derby Day at Churchill, had surgery last week to remove a chip from a left hind ankle, owner Larry Best said Thursday morning at Belmont Park.
“Rood and Riddle made it sound like it was pretty straightforward,” Best said. “We’ll get him back under tack in 30 to 45 days and then we’ll accelerate the healing on the ligaments.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Peter Miller plans to make a run at three of the eight Grade 1 stakes offered on the June 8 Belmont Stakes card at Belmont Park.
Miller plans to send out Belvoir Bay and Om against World of Trouble in the $400,000 Jaipur Invitational; Proud Emma in the $700,000 Acorn; and Spiced Perfection in the $700,000 Ogden Phipps. Spiced Perfection, winner of the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in April, is also being considered for Friday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Bed o’ Roses Invitational.
