A major renovation of the dirt racing surface at Indiana Grand has fallen behind schedule because of bad weather, but while the track won’t be ready for training March 11, as had originally been hoped, the April 16 start of the 2019 racing season shouldn’t be affected.
Jon Schuster, vice president and general manager of racing at Indiana Grand, said Wednesday he hoped training could commence “a couple weeks” after the original target date. “It won’t affect the start of the season,” he said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Coal Front made an impression late last month at Oaklawn when he overcame post 14 to win his two-turn debut in the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Handicap.
“We were very proud of him,” said trainer Todd Pletcher.
Coal Front is back home at Palm Beach Downs in Florida, and Pletcher said Wednesday the horse’s next move is being discussed with owners Bob LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners.
“He’s pretty versatile,” Pletcher said. “That gives us a lot of good options.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – “Show me the money!”
In a move that would make Jerry Maguire jealous, Oaklawn is boosting purses for five of its stakes races and resurrecting another on the heels of increasing its overnight purses. The track made the announcement Wednesday.
The Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap is the biggest winner, with its purse going from $400,000 to $500,000 for its running on the Arkansas Derby undercard April 13.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The main track at Santa Anita remained fully closed for training for a second consecutive day on Wednesday as track maintenance crews and experts continued to study the surface after an alarming spate of equine fatalities. Through Monday, there had been 19 fatalities in racing and training at Santa Anita since the meet began on Dec. 26.
The main track closed earlier than normal on Monday and was not used for training Tuesday or Wednesday. The track announced Tuesday afternoon that there would be no training on Wednesday.
Runaway Ghost won Sunland Park’s richest race for 3-year-olds last meet, and this season could go after the track’s richest race for older horses. Trainer Todd Fincher said Tuesday that the $150,000 Sunland Park Handicap on May 4 is a consideration for Runaway Ghost following his Sunday win in the track’s $75,000 Curribot Stakes.
Runaway Ghost reached a career pinnacle last year when he won the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby. An injury kept him from advancing to the Kentucky Derby, and on Feb. 2 he returned from a 10-month layoff and won the six-furlong Fort Bliss at Sunland.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – They have names like Boomerang and Big Loop, Comet and Corkscrew, Tornado and Velocity. The road to the Kentucky Derby has so many twists and turns, it’s like a roller-coaster ride. So, perhaps the most-appropriate horse for this time of the year is one named for the manufacturer of roller coasters bearing those monikers.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Dr. Sandra Dixon, a Lasix veterinarian for the New York Racing Association, was fired for what she was told was “a conflict of interest” potentially stemming from the fact she is the mother-in-law of trainer Rob Atras.
Atras, a former assistant to Robertino Diodoro, went out on his own in January and has won nine races from 15 starters at the Aqueduct meet. Atras is married to the former Brittney Dixon, who is Sandra’s daughter. Brittney Atras works as an assistant to her husband, who maintains a 10-horse stable at Belmont Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hidden Scroll isn’t the only 3-year-old in the Fountain of Youth looking to make a huge leap Saturday in his stakes debut.
Global Campaign also is one of those horses who “you don’t know what’s going to happen when you sit down and ride them,” said Stan Hough, who trains the colt for the partnership of Sagamore Farm and WinStar Farm. “It’s going to be very interesting, that’s for sure.”
WHO’S HOT
Global Campaign, who just missed making the cut last week, moves into the top 20 owing to the defection of Maximus Mischief. He is scheduled to make his stakes debut on Saturday at Gulfstream in the Fountain of Youth, a race that has lured six members of the Derby Watch top 20. He is 20-1 on the Kentucky Derby line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper.
WHO’S NOT
Hustle Up improved his career record to 8 for 10 last weekend in his native New Mexico and is now a candidate for the state's richest race for Thoroughbreds, the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby, according to trainer Todd Fincher.
The 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby is March 24. The first four finishers will earn Kentucky Derby eligibility points on a scale of 50-20-10-5. Fincher won last year’s Sunland Derby with Runaway Ghost.
