ARCADIA, Calif. – Sharp Samurai, a five-time stakes winner who was withdrawn from the Breeders’ Cup Mile last fall because of illness, is scheduled to have his 2019 debut in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 27.
Sharp Samurai, who worked six furlongs in 1:14.40 on Wednesday, has not raced since winning the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita last October.
“We’ve settled into having him ready for the second half of the year,” trainer Mark Glatt said on Thursday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Ollie’s Candy, the winner of the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks last June, recently joined trainer John Sadler’s stable at Santa Anita and is nearing her 2019 debut.
Ollie’s Candy, who races for owners and breeders Paul and Karen Eggert, was second in two graded stakes on turf for 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar last summer – the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at a mile and the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Bourbon War will wear blinkers for the first time in a race when he starts in the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes on May 18.
Bourbon War, most recently fourth to Maximum Security in the Florida Derby, had his fourth workout in blinkers on Thursday, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.91 over Belmont Park’s main track. The blinkers are a thin cup.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Heavy favorites have been a staple of recent runnings of the Preakness, so the prospect of a mostly fresh slate for the 144th running on May 18 at Pimlico in Baltimore has given at least one insider a glass-half-full outlook.
“At least it looks like a good betting race this year,” said Keith Feustle, who will compose the Pimlico morning line for the second jewel of the Triple Crown for the sixth straight year.
ELMONT, N.Y. – A week after their Maximum Security was disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby, owners Gary and Mary West and trainer Jason Servis are back in another stakes for 3-year-olds as they send out Final Jeopardy in the Grade 3, $300,000 Peter Pan on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Final Jeopardy was one of just five horses entered in the Peter Pan, a one-turn 1 1/8-mile race that frequently produces runners for the Belmont Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Ireland-based trainer Aidan O’Brien participated in seven graded stakes on the New York Racing Association circuit in 2018. He won the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks with Athena and had Grade 1 placings with Mendelssohn and Hunting Horn.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Rafael Bejarano, among the leading riders in Southern California, has been given a three-day suspension for causing interference in the Angels Flight Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday.
Bejarano was cited for his ride on Sneaking Out, who was disqualified from first to second for drifting out in the stretch of the seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gray Magician is being rested at a Kentucky farm after finishing last of 19 in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday.
Trainer Peter Miller said Gray Magician bled “a little bit” in the Kentucky Derby. Sent off at 33-1, Gray Magician was 14th on the backstretch and as close as 13th on the turn before fading through the stretch on a sloppy and sealed racetrack.
“I don’t think he’ll be seeing a wet track again,” Miller said. “His two worse races were on sloppy tracks.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Omaha Beach, who was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby three days before the race after being diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis, could return to trainer Richard Mandella’s stable at Santa Anita as early as this weekend.
Mandella said Wednesday that Omaha Beach is being given a rest at WinStar Farm in Kentucky. Mandella said he has secured a reservation on a horse flight Sunday and may have Omaha Beach shipped west this weekend, depending on the colt’s condition.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The only two allowances on a nine-race Friday card at Churchill Downs will serve as bookend features when going as the first and last races on a program that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Both are scheduled for turf, although another rainy spell was being forecast for this region for Thursday through Sunday, perhaps imperiling grass racing for much of the weekend.
A $94,000 allowance for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles starts the Friday proceedings, while an $87,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs will bring things to a close as race 9.
