ARCADIA, Calif. – Extra Hope was not entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby so that the highly promising colt can undergo a precautionary physical, trainer Richard Mandella said.
Extra Hope was fourth in the first division of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 16 and has not recovered from that race to Mandella’s satisfaction.
“I’m going to scan him and look him over,” Mandella said. “I can’t get him back to where he was before the last race.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Enaya Alrabb, second in two graded stakes since early December, will miss Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks because of an undisclosed injury.
“She’ll probably be out for six months,” trainer Doug O’Neill said Wednesday.
O’Neill wouldn’t disclose specifics of Enaya Alrabb’s injury but said she would not require surgery.
“It’s very disappointing, but she needs time,” he said.
He said the injury was diagnosed Tuesday morning “after going over her.”
Although he’s won just one race since August of 2017 – a higher-level optional claimer here last summer – Gunnevera’s bankroll just continues to grow and grow and grow. The honest-as-they-come 5-year-old son of Dialed In added another $1.2 million to the coffers of owner Salomon Del Valle after his third-place finish in last Saturday’s Dubai World Cup, swelling his lifetime earnings to more than $5.5 million.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Roadster was breathtaking in his debut. He had his breath taken away in his next race.
Eight months later, in the Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, Roadster will make his bid for a berth in the May 4 Kentucky Derby. For a horse with a mere three starts, he’s had an eventful journey to get to this point, including time off for throat surgery to address a malfunctioning wind flap.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Just 11 days after finishing a game second, less than a length behind By My Standards in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, Spinoff was back on the work tab Wednesday morning at Palm Meadows, breezing four furlongs in 48.77 seconds in company with 2018 Louisiana Derby winner Noble Indy.
“It was a last minute deal moving the work up to this morning,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He’s doing so well, I just felt like it was time to let him stretch his legs a little bit and I thought he breezed well.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – When Fuel the Bern goes postward as one of the favorites in the last race Friday, trainer Danny Gargan hopes the 5-year-old horse will be the first of many winners this spring in his native Kentucky.
Gargan enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2018 when based primarily in New York, winning 56 races and nearly $2.7 million in purses. He now has a division of 24 horses at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Monomoy Girl will not make her 4-year-old debut in the May 3 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill as had been hoped.
The filly “came off the van colicky” upon returning March 27 to Churchill from her winter base at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, said trainer Brad Cox.
“We pretty much sent her straight away to the clinic.”
Monomoy Girl was treated for dehydration for several days at Rood and Riddle in Lexington. She is resting at WinStar Farm and is expected back at Churchill by the end of April.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Batting over .500 is virtually impossible in baseball and in horse racing, at least in the long term. Still, the occasional hot streak will take a hitter or horse trainer into the stratosphere and get fans’ tongues wagging.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said on Tuesday he plans to have a division of horses at the Louisiana Downs meet that opens May 4.
Asmussen, who has not been stabled during a meet at the Bossier City track in years, won last year’s Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby there with Limation.
