DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher had to catch a flight out of town Friday. But before heading to the airport, Pletcher spent the early morning hours sending out more than two dozen horses to work at his winter-spring headquarters at Palm Beach Downs, a group that included potential Kentucky Derby starters Cutting Humor and Spinoff.
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DRF Past Performances
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has canceled races on its hillside turf course through April, according to a notice on Sunday’s overnight.
Five races scheduled for about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside course from April 19 to April 28 will be offered at five furlongs on turf, and one race scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on turf on April 27 will now be run at 1 1/8 miles.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – With no stakes here Sunday on a nine-race card, the next such races are set for next week with the Grade 3 Doubledogdare on Friday and the Grade 2 Elkhorn on Saturday.
Blue Prize, who enjoyed a breakthrough 2018 when she earned $730,893, all for Merriebelle Stable and trainer Ignacio Correas, will make her seasonal debut in the 1 1/16-mile Doubledogdare. Zulu Alpha, winner of the Sycamore here last fall, figures to be favored in the Elkorn at 1 1/2 miles on turf.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Just minutes after J Zar was declared the victor in a tight photo in the fourth race Thursday at Keeneland, the winning trainer, Brendan Walsh, said he sent a text message to his mother in Ireland.
“I told her, ‘He must be looking down on us,’ ” said Walsh.
Walsh’s father, Patrick, died April 5 at age 80 in their homeland of County Cork after suffering from cancer. It was a crushing blow for Walsh, whose interest in horses was sparked by that of his father.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Oaks remains in play for Serengeti Empress, whose bleeding incident in the Fair Grounds Oaks has cast doubt on whether she’ll be among the 14 3-year-old fillies in the starting gate for the May 3 race.
Serengeti Empress is comfortably above the qualifying-points cutoff for the Grade 1, $1 million Oaks, but trainer Tom Amoss wants to make sure the speedy daughter of Alternation is 100 percent healthy before committing her to the Churchill Downs filly classic.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24 will air on the national FOX network, it was announced Thursday.
The Travers will be broadcast from 5-6 p.m. Eastern. The Travers had been broadcast on NBC or NBCSN since 2011.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Nik Juarez informed New York stewards on Thursday that he will not appeal the suspension handed him for careless riding in Saturday’s Wood Memorial. Thus, the suspension will be reduced from 15 days to 10. Juarez, who was also fined $2,500, will serve the days from April 23 through May 2. Since he rides at Gulfstream, Juarez will be missing only five racing days.
The stewards did deny a request from Juarez to ride a stakes at Gulfstream on April 27 in exchange for serving an additional day.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Wesley Ward nominated 15 fillies to Saturday’s $100,000 Bridgetown Stakes for 3-year-olds and has decided to run Wonder Stone against males in the six-furlong turf stakes.
The Bridgetown drew a field of six, though one, Majid, was entered only to run if the race is moved to the main track.
Wonder Stone, a daughter of Super Saver, beat males on dirt in her debut last April 18 at Keeneland. She made her second start in the Astoria against females at Belmont and finished fifth. She was stopped on “for little niggling issues,” Ward said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Gustavo Delgado and the rest of the connections of Florida Derby runner-up Bodexpress will be paying close attention to both the Arkansas Derby and Lexington Stakes on Saturday while also doing a lot of scoreboard watching in the days and weeks ahead.