LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bee Jersey returned to Churchill Downs following his victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile last Saturday at Belmont Park but has no definite next race on his agenda, trainer Steve Asmussen said Friday.
“We’ll see how he trains and won’t be in any hurry with him,” Asmussen said.
Likewise, Tenfold, the fifth-place finisher behind Justify in the Belmont Stakes, is back at Churchill with no particular race on his schedule, said Asmussen.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Chiefswood Stable earned its first Sovereign Award for outstanding owner in Canada in 2017 after a campaign that saw its horses record 28 wins from 170 starts, including eight stakes triumphs and one graded stakes victory.
Victor Carrasco, a top rider on the Maryland circuit since 2013, when he won the Eclipse Award as the leading apprentice in North America, will accept his first mounts since last September at Laurel Park on Sunday.
Carrasco is named to ride Mythos in race 5, a $7,500 claiming sprint, for trainer Jonathan Maldonado and Another Broad for trainer Mike Trombetta in race 6, a $40,000 waiver maiden claimer. Another Broad is a Maryland-bred 3-year-old filly first-time starter. She is not entered for a claiming price.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sower, the 4 3/4-length winner of Sunday’s $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont on July 8, trainer Linda Rice said.
Sower remained unbeaten in three starts with her front-running victory in the Jersey Girl. That was a step up for her following two victories in Maryland.
“I was really very pleased and very impressed the way she handled the competition in the Jersey Girl,” Rice said. “We’ll move on to the next one, which is a Grade 3, which is significant for a filly, and the timing’s good.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Belmont Park stewards on Thursday talked to jockey Florent Geroux regarding his ride on Restoring Hope in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
New York State Gaming Commission steward Steve Lewandowski would only confirm that he, Jockey Club steward Jimmy Edwards, and backup NYRA steward Juan Dominguez spoke to Geroux. He referred all other inquiries to the gaming commission office.
The gaming commission, via email, declined to comment on the matter.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It’s later than perhaps planned, but Oscar Performance, a three-time Grade 1-winning turf male, will make his 4-year-old debut in Sunday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park.
The one-mile turf race will be the first for Oscar Performance since he finished ninth in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.
Trainer Brian Lynch said Oscar Performance had a little bit of a colic issue in May that forced him to miss a potential allowance prep for the Poker.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Kanthaka, a winner of two stakes for 3-year-old sprinters this year, may have his first start against older horses in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 28.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Thursday that Kanthaka has returned to his California stable after being withdrawn from the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont Park last Saturday because of a foot ailment.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Instilled Regard, unraced since a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5, has been transferred from trainer Jerry Hollendorfer to Chad Brown in New York for a late-summer campaign, owner Larry Best said on Thursday.
Instilled Regard was based in California with Hollendorfer through the Kentucky Derby before being rested on a Kentucky farm through May and early June.
“I think he added 75 to 80 pounds,” Best said. “I’ve shipped him to Belmont Park.”
Stave and Romantic Moment both make their stakes debut in the Grade 3, $100,000 Regret Stakes on Saturday night under the lights in Louisville.
Stave comes off back-to-back victories, both with jockey Gabriel Saez, who retains the mount Saturday. The Ghostzapper filly won her maiden by 6 3/4 lengths on April 20 at Keeneland, stalking the pace and then pouncing with a vengeance in the 1 1/16-mile turf race. She employed similar tactics when stretching out slightly to the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Regret in a Churchill allowance on May 19, winning by 1 1/2 lengths.
Mother Nature thwarted trainer Valorie Lund’s plan to work Mr. Jagermeister on turf last weekend, but she hopes the talented Minnesota-bred 3-year-old can get in a drill on the Canterbury Park grass Sunday.
Mr. Jagermeister has made all eight of his starts in dirt sprints, but if he works to Lund’s satisfaction on turf, she plans to enter him for the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby on June 23 at Canterbury. That race also would mark Mr. Jagermeister’s first start around two turns.
