DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – On May 4, trainer Todd Pletcher will have to beat 18 other 3-year-olds with Cutting Humor and Spinoff to win the Kentucky Derby. On Friday morning, he only needed them to beat Mother Nature, a feat the two Derby contenders narrowly pulled off when getting in important five-furlong works just as moderate to heavy rain began to fall over the Palm Beach Downs training center shortly before dawn.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – With the countdown toward Kentucky Derby day relentlessly ticking on, and poor weather looming on the radar, War of Will was one of the first horses on the track Friday morning at Keeneland to work a sharp five furlongs in company in 1:00.20.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Blue Grass winner Vekoma got back to work Thursday shortly after dawn on a balmy morning at Palm Beach Downs, breezing an easy four furlongs in 50.20 seconds over a near-deserted racetrack with his regular exercise rider Cindy Weaver aboard. Vekoma went in company with regular workmate Majestic Dunhill.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine kicks off its 133-day race meet Saturday with a 10-race card that drew 75 entries. The card features the Grade 3, $125,000 Whimsical Stakes for fillies and mares over six furlongs on Tapeta.
New to Woodbine this season is an inner turf course, replacing the old Standardbred track on the infield. The early portion of the meet will have racing on Tapeta exclusively, and track management is targeting late May for the first race over the new surface, said Jonathan Zammit, Woodbine’s vice president of Thoroughbred racing.
The 2019 Emerald Downs live season begins Saturday with a nine-race card starting at 2 p.m. Pacific. The 67-day meet will conclude Sunday, Sept. 22.
Saturday is the only racing day scheduled at Emerald for Easter weekend. Starting next week, racing will be held on Saturdays and Sundays until May 10, when Fridays are added. Post times are the same as last year – 6:30 p.m. on Fridays; 2 p.m. Saturdays until June 15 when it changes to 5 p.m.; and 2 p.m. Sundays.
The Maryland-based, Panama-born trainer Jose Corrales was traveling in Cuba on Wednesday, but on Saturday he’ll be in West Virginia with a chance to win a $1 million race for the second year in a row.
Corrales, however, was forthright in assessing his chances at landing a second straight $1 million Charles Town Classic. The 2018 winner, Something Awesome, is among the entrants, but Corrales rates another horse, Unbridled Juan, as his leading hope Saturday night.
“My toughest horse is Unbridled Juan,” Corrales said.
The 3-year-olds Break Even and Warrior’s Charge have turned in some outstanding recent races at Oaklawn for trainer Brad Cox.
Break Even ran her record to 3 for 3 in the $150,000 Purple Martin, a six-furlong stakes for 3-year-old fillies on March 30. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 94. Break Even has won her three races by a combined 13 3/4 lengths.
“She’s very talented,” Cox said. “She does everything the right way. She’s a very mild-mannered, intelligent filly, does everything you ask of her. She’s nice.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There was a bit of a buzz along with a cool breeze in the paddock at Aqueduct prior to Wednesday’s first race.
A larger-than-usual crowd gathered to watch Tesorina, the first progeny of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah to run in North America, make her debut.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s $75,000 Roar Stakes should be a good one. The field of eight 3-year-olds includes Gladiator King, upset winner of the Grade 3 Hutcheson on March 23, and Garter and Tie, who turns back in distance after finishing 10th in the Florida Derby. Other key contenders include Jackson, winner of Tampa Bay Downs Sophomore Stakes in his most recent start; the speedy and much-improved Bronzed, exiting a pair of wire-to-wire victories at the same seven-furlong distance of the Roar; and Promo Code, a winner of his only start and trained by Todd Pletcher.
The decision by Mike Smith and his agent, Brad Pegram, to ride Omaha Beach in the Kentucky Derby instead of their other enticing choice Roadster was reached on Tuesday, three days after Omaha Beach won the Arkansas Derby.
Smith’s decision unleashed a domino effect, including Florent Geroux picking up the mount on Roadster. But to even get to that point, a series of events took place, some of Smith’s choosing, many not, that would be a case study for chaos theory, how random events can yield unpredictable, unforeseen results.
