LEXINGTON, Ky. – The second half of the Keeneland spring stakes schedule will get under way Friday when a pair of races led by the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile anchors a terrific 10-race card.
Delta Prince, in from New York after wintering in Florida, could be favored in a field of eight older turf horses in the $300,000 Maker’s 46, a longstanding key race in the division.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Luis Saez will have the mount on Whitmore in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn, with Ricardo Santana Jr. committing to Mitole, trainer Ron Moquett said Saturday. Grade 1 winner Whitmore has been made the 123-pound highweight for the Count Fleet and Mitole is second on the weight list at 121.
Whitmore worked first set Saturday, going a half-mile in company in a bullet 48 seconds. He was situated along the rail. Clockers had his final quarter in 23 seconds and timed him galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.80.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn leading trainer Steve Asmussen had a large contingent of workers out Monday morning, with a number of those runners prepping for stakes during the Racing Festival of the South.
It was a sunny morning with temperatures in the 60s and the sealed track was listed as muddy.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Galilean will be bidding to send West Point Thoroughbreds back to the Kentucky Derby this year when he runs Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.
“We’re hoping he takes us there,” said the group’s president, Terry Finley.
West Point Thoroughbreds won the Kentucky Derby in partnership in 2017 with Always Dreaming. The group also raced Commanding Curve, who was second to California Chrome in the 2014 Kentucky Derby, and was partners in My Boy Jack, who was fifth in last year’s Derby, won by Justify.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There are no immediate plans to resume racing on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita, a top track official said on Sunday.
There has been no racing on the hillside turf course since March 31 when Arms Runner suffered a fatal injury in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on the course. No hillside races have been scheduled for Friday’s eight-race program and none are expected this weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. – With the wet weather that compromised Santa Anita’s meeting now in the rearview mirror, new protocols put in place regarding horse welfare, and with the main track playing slow but safe, Santa Anita’s safety record over the past 3 1/2 weeks has greatly improved from earlier in the meet.
All-sources handle for Saturday’s Wood Memorial card at Aqueduct was $15,069,036, down 8.1 percent from the $16,404,782 handled on Wood Day 2018.
Ontrack handle Saturday was $2,020,189, down 2.6 percent from last year’s figure of $2,074,391.
Each card had 11 races, though there was only one turf race this year whereas there were two in 2018.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Vasilika, who won her fifth graded stakes in the last six months in Saturday’s Grade 2 Royal Heroine, has been nearly unbeatable at Santa Anita for more than a year.
Vasilika has won 10 of 11 starts at Santa Anita and is on a 10-race winning streak at the track.
Her next start is likely to come in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf here for fillies and mares May 27.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Simon Callaghan thought Bellafina was exceptional when she was purchased for $800,000 at the Gulfstream sale of 2-year-olds in training last spring. She has proven him right.
In eight starts, Bellafina has won six graded stakes, the latest being the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday, a comprehensive win that will make her the favorite in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3.
“The filly is just the perfect filly,” Callaghan said on Sunday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mind Control came out of his 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore Stakes in good order and will now target the Woody Stephens Stakes on the June 8 Belmont Stakes card. The Woody Stephens, run at seven furlongs, was elevated to Grade 1 status for the first time this year by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
