Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:30

Lone Star Park Racing Club trying to stay perfect at meet

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Jockey Lane Luzzi will make his debut at Remington during the upcoming meet.

The Lone Star Park Racing Club will attempt to extend its record to 3 for 3 at this meet on Friday night, when Fred’s Lucky Boy makes his first start for the group. He goes in the opener, a five-furlong turf sprint in which he is offered for a claiming price of $12,500.

Lone Star Park launched the club at the start of the meet, and it won with its first runner, Lodi Street – who was claimed from the group. The club came back and won with its second starter, Peej. J.R. Caldwell trains for the Lone Star Park Racing Club.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:30

Broberg, M and M Racing seek second stakes payday with Silver Moon Rising

Coady Photography
Americium, with Tim Thornton up, wins the $50,000 Opelousas at Evangeline Downs.

M and M Racing and Karl Broberg have emerged as an owner-trainer team to watch. They had first stakes win together last week at Evangeline Downs and will be shooting for another this weekend at Lone Star Park.

Americium captured the $50,000 Opelousas last Friday at Evangeline, while Silver Moon Rising will start as one of the top contenders in the $100,000 fillies’ division of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity on Sunday at Lone Star. Broberg joined the M and M Racing team of Mike and Mickala Sisk this year, picking up horses for Lone Star.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:26

Strollin the Bayou no cinch in allowance

Coady Photography
Strollin the Bayou was equipped with blinkers for her victory in the June 16 Purple Violet Stakes.

Strollin the Bayou flew home from last to win the Purple Violet Stakes for Illinois-breds on June 16. If she can transfer that Polytrack form to turf she’ll win the sixth race Friday at Arlington – but that’s a big if.

Strollin the Bayou’s two best races have come on Arlington’s synthetic surface. Perhaps she’s just a different horse racing in blinkers, which trainer Chris Block added for the Purple Violet, but there’s a better chance she excels on Arlington’s main track.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:20

Flurry of late wagers drove down odds on Firenze Fire in Dwyer Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Firenze Fire, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., wins the Dwyer Stakes by nine lengths.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Twenty-one large individual win bets totaling $124,109 were placed on Firenze Fire in the last 28 seconds of wagering, prompting his odds to plummet from 5-1 to 5-2 in Saturday’s Grade 3 Dwyer, a race he won.

According to information provided by the New York Racing Association, there was one individual wager of $24,055, another of $11,596, one of $8,500, and a dozen of $5,000 made in the last 28 seconds before post. Other wagers ranged from $547 to $4,355.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:16

Day Phillips has rare Belmont starter with Mr Havercamp in Forbidden Apple

Michael Burns
Mr Havercamp wins the Steady Growth Stakes easily as the favorite Saturday at Woodbine.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Canadian-based trainer Catherine Day Phillips has run just one horse at Belmont Park, that being A Bit O’ Gold, who finished last in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

On Saturday, Day Phillips will be back in New York to run Mr Havercamp in the $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes going a mile over the Widener turf. Mr Havercamp, a 4-year-old Ontario-bred gelding by Court Vision, has won 5 of 7 starts, including the Steady Growth Stakes at Woodbine by 4 3/4 lengths on June 16.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:06

Pavel to fly east again for Whitney Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Pavel earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory in the Stephen Foster Handicap.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The road warrior Pavel will again be traveling, as he will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 4, trainer Doug O’Neill said Wednesday.

Pavel ended a six-race losing streak with an authoritative 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 16. Though based in Southern California, Pavel has, in 10 races, run at Saratoga, Parx, Belmont, Meydan, and Churchill in addition to Santa Anita and Del Mar.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 15:06

Brisset's stock rising alongside talented filly Talk Veuve to Me

Tom Keyser
Rodolphe Brisset trains Quip for a partnership headed by WinStar Farm. The colt will be ridden in Saturday's Preakness by Brisset's longtime friend Florent Geroux.

A trainer stabled a few barns away from Rodolphe Brisset last winter at Fair Grounds was confused. Brisset’s horses looked great. The operation seemed to run smoothly. Where were the results?

Brisset had his first starter as a head trainer in May 2017. By year’s end, his record stood at 70-6-8-10. The winter, with Brisset split between Fair Grounds and Tampa Bay Downs, was just as slow. Between Oct. 1 and Feb. 1, only two of his 38 starters won.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 14:10

Geovanni Franco plans to be ready for Del Mar

Shigeki Kikkawa
Jockey Geovanni Franco

CYPRESS, Calif. – Geovanni Franco, who has not ridden since June 24 because of a sprained knee, will resume riding at Del Mar on July 18, the track’s opening day of the summer meeting.

Franco, the second-leading rider at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, recently underwent an MRI test that revealed the sprain, according to his agent, James Giannone.

Franco exercised horses at Santa Anita on Wednesday and could have a mount at Los Alamitos on Sunday, the final day of that track’s summer meeting, Giannone said.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 14:10

Roy H, Paradise Woods work for Del Mar stakes engagements

Barbara D. Livingston
Roy H, pictured working at Santa Anita on June 22, is scheduled to start next in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar.

Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017, and Paradise Woods, a multiple Grade 1 winner, worked at Santa Anita on Wednesday for upcoming stakes at Del Mar.

Roy H, trained by Peter Miller for Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen, was third in the $2 million Duabi Golden Shaheen on March 31. The 6-year-old gelding is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 28.

Wednesday, Roy H worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds.

Wed, 07/11/2018 - 13:46

D'Amato has plenty of candidates for early Del Mar stakes

Shigeki Kikkawa
Trainer Phil D'Amato

Lady Lucy, a maiden race winner at Churchill Downs last month, has been transferred to California trainer Phil D’Amato after being bought for $200,000 at the Fasig-Tipton horses of racing age sale in Kentucky on Monday.

Lady Lucy, by Into Mischief, is now owned by the Little Red Feather partnership and Sam Aguilar. The filly won her second start, which came in a five-furlong race on June 15 for trainer William Connelly.

“I think she’s due to arrive in the next few days,” D’Amato said on Wednesday.