Rebel winner Coal Battle emerged from a Wednesday breeze in good order and was scheduled to return to the track Saturday, said trainer Lonnie Briley. The horse went a half-mile in 49.40 seconds.
“He worked that real easy half and he was smiling about it,” Briley said. “He’s doing good, feeling great.”
Briley said he is still determining whether Coal Battle will run back in the Arkansas Derby or await the Kentucky Derby.
Mixto, the upset winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar last August, has been invited to the $12 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on April 5, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Friday.
Mixto has started once this year, finishing fourth of 11 in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25. Mixto was beaten 8 1/4 lengths by runaway winner White Abarrio, and was two lengths behind second-place finisher Locked.
Last Saturday, Locked returned to record an easy win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at Santa Anita.
Gaming, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old of 2024 but a disappointing eighth in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 25, worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 on the infield all-weather training track at Santa Anita on Friday for a scheduled start in the $500,000 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs on March 15.
Gaming worked in company with stablemate Toughness, a maiden race winner in January. Toughness was given the same time as Gaming.
A week after he finished last of seven in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, Air Force Red has been entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita.
Trainer Leonard Powell said on Friday that Air Force Red’s rapid recovery made the $100,000 San Simeon Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course a possibility. Entries for the San Simeon were taken on Monday, less than 48 hours after Air Force Red ran in the Kilroe Mile.
Churchill Downs has raised the purse of the American Turf Stakes to $1 million, a $400,000 increase over 2024, after the race was designated a Grade 1 by the American Graded Stakes Committee late last year.
The American Turf, for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on the grass, will be one of 22 stakes races run during Kentucky Derby week worth a total of $17.9 million, according to a stakes schedule Churchill released on Friday. The 43-day meet will include a total of 50 stakes worth $26.2 million.
Assiniboia Downs has announced that its 50-day 2025 meet will runs from May 13 to Oct. 8.
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 for all dates.
HOT SPRINGS, ARK. – Booth, who earned a meet-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105 last out at Oaklawn, is being pointed to the track’s Grade 3 Whitmore Stakes, trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Booth won the Commodore, a new overnight stakes, in his most recent start in Hot Springs.
◗ Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said plans for recent 3-year-old allowance route winner Bestfriend Rocket are being discussed with owner Frank Fletcher. Lukas said he is still finalizing stakes plans for some of the other quality 3-year-olds he has in the barn this season at Oaklawn.
G W’s Girl, who has won back-to-back sprint stakes at Oaklawn, is being considered for a start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Beaumont for 3-year-old fillies April 6 at Keeneland, according to her trainer, Greg Compton.
G W’s Girl won the $150,000 Mockingbird at six furlongs Jan. 4. She closed from off the pace and one start later raced with the leaders winning the $150,000 Dixie Belle at the same distance Feb. 24. G W’s Girl was the odds-on favorite and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Free Like a Girl could be making the penultimate start of her career Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park, according to co-owner and trainer Chasey Deville Pomier.
Free Like a Girl ranks as the all-time-leading earner among Louisiana-breds. She has won 21 of 48 starts for earnings of $2,173,438. Free Like a Girl enters the Azeri off a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Bayakoa, beaten a head in the Feb. 1 race at Oaklawn. She is shipping back to Arkansas from Delta Downs.
Journalism was scheduled to resume training this week at Santa Anita, weather permitting, after a smashing victory March 1 in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, his first start since Dec. 14, when he won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity. Journalism won the San Felipe with a 108 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest San Felipe figure since California Chrome earned the same figure in 2014.
Even his understated trainer, Michael McCarthy, was impressed with Journalism.
