OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement has gotten off to a terrific start at the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet with five wins – four in stakes – through the first two weeks.
Clement won Saturday’s Grade 2 Man o’ War with heavily favored Far Bridge, who will now be pointed to the Grade 1 Manhattan at Saratoga on June 7. Clement could point three horses to that race, including Deterministic and Carson’s Run, the one-two finishers from the Grade 2 Fort Marcy on May 3.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In Hill Road, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Chad Brown will be bringing a relatively fresh horse to the June 7 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. But Brown doesn’t think that gives him any sort of advantage over horses like Kentucky Derby first- and third-place finishers Sovereignty and Baeza, who are skipping Saturday’s Preakness to point to the Belmont.
Kathy Walsh, the retired trainer who died on Thursday, was a reluctant pioneer.
When she began training in 1970, following the death of her father Jim, female trainers were largely unwelcome.
In that regard, Walsh broke barriers. She won training titles at Longacres in Washington State and Canterbury Downs – now Canterbury Park - in Minnesota. She won Grade 1 races in Southern California and had a starter in the Kentucky Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though she is nominated to Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico, the multiple stakes-winning New York-bred 3-year-old filly Bernieandtherose will stay with her own kind in the $200,000 Bouwerie Stakes on June 4 at Saratoga.
Bernieandtherose has won four consecutive New York-bred races, including the East View and Maddie May stakes. She was entered in the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes on April 5 at Aqueduct but scratched due to a cough.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Grande, who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby by the state regulatory veterinarians due to a cracked heel, was to undergo further tests to determine the extent, if any, of his injury.
Grande was examined by Dr. Larry Bramlage at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital last Tuesday, but those tests came back “inconclusive,” according to trainer Todd Pletcher
“He’s actually going for further tests on Tuesday,” Pletcher said. “So far, we haven’t found anything to hang our hat on.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown will point his bevy of stakes winners from the first weekend in May to races at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga during the first week of June.
Spirit of St Louis, who won the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic on May 3 at Churchill Downs, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard. Typically run at 1 1/4 miles, the Manhattan will be run at 1 3/16 miles because of the configuration of Saratoga’s turf course.
Undefeated Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer returned to the track Tuesday at Churchill Downs, and trainer Brad Cox confirmed that the Godolphin homebred is targeting the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga. That could kick off a summer campaign through the division’s major events in New York.
“I thought she came out of the race incredibly well,” Cox told Churchill Downs publicity.
Winnipeg’s Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets have taken the city by storm as they advance through the National Hockey League playoffs. Racing returns to the Manitoba capital on Tuesday when Assiniboia Downs commences a 50-day meet that goes to Oct. 8, filling a void for sports fans after hockey season ends.
Racing will be conducted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until June. Mondays will be added to the schedule on June 2, June 23, July 14, Aug. 4, Aug. 25, and Sept. 15. Post time is 7:30 p.m. Central.
This much is certain - Cheever was an expensive purchase for $700,000 as a 2-year-old in 2024 and has worked well from the gate in recent weeks in advance of his first start in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday.
How the race will unfold and whether Cheever can beat what looks to be a talented field is unclear to trainer Mark Glatt.
“His works have been very good from the gate,” Glatt said on Thursday. “There is some chance that’s a little bit of a sandbagger in the morning and that he’ll show more in the afternoon.
Trainer Mark Glatt has Grade 1 goals later this month with the two-time stakes winner Mi Hermano Ramon, who is scheduled to start in the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita on May 26.
A 5-year-old gelding, Mi Hermano Ramon had a busy late autumn and winter campaign that included a win in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar last November and a game second to Johannes in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita in December.
