New York Central and Dream Baby Dream will make their first run at Kentucky Derby points on Sunday, when the stablemates start in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby. Steve Asmussen trains both horses.
Asmussen also trains Hence, who won the Sunland Derby last year, and Daddy Nose Best, who won the Sunland Derby in 2012.
Actress, who finished second in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri last Saturday at Oaklawn, will be considered for Oaklawn’s Grade 1, $700,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 13.
“We’re going to keep our options open, keep her nominated to everything,” said Benny Glass, the racing manager for owners Gary and Mary West.
Actress returned to Florida on Monday. Last year, Actress won the Grade 3 Comely at Aqueduct and the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico.
Jockey Kerwin Clark was released from the University Medical Center in New Orleans on Tuesday to his home in the New Orleans area, his agent, Charles Ashy Jr., said Wednesday.
Clark went down in an ugly three-horse accident during the eighth race March 15 at Fair Grounds. Clark’s mount, Ellashoo, broke down on the far turn of the dirt sprint while on the lead and racing along the fence, leading to a chain reaction involving two trailing horses.
Trainer Todd Pletcher already has taken down the Holy Bull Stakes with Audible and the Rebel Stakes with Magnum Moon, but if he wins a third Kentucky Derby prep race, the $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, Pletcher will be bucking his own history.
Noble Indy finished a solid-if-unspectacular third Feb. 17 in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez believe the colt has more to give, and in an effort to bring forth a fuller breadth of Noble Indy’s talent, Pletcher will race him in blinkers for the first time Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The turf stakes winners Itsinthepost and River Boyne have largely defined trainer Jeff Mullins’s 2018 season, each going unbeaten at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.
Itsinthepost has developed into the leading turf distance horse on the circuit with two stakes wins. There may be a third in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf, provided the forecast rain does not prove to be too severe.
“Hopefully, they’re wrong,” Mullins said of the forecasters. “Hopefully, we won’t get rained off.”
NEW ORLEANS – Jeff Bloom always has wanted to be in the Derby. When he was a jockey, it was his dream. And he got a derby, all right. It was just a bit north of Louisville in Winnipeg.
The 1985 Manitoba Derby was the biggest victory for Bloom during a riding career that began at Del Mar in 1982 and lasted less than a decade. Fast forward 25 years – after he stopped riding, got a degree in finance, and melded his equine and financial knowledge into running his business, Bloom Racing – and Bloom finds himself one race away from finally being in the Kentucky Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Faversham, the highly regarded 3-year-old brother to the two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, may start favored in a one-mile maiden race for California-breds in Friday’s third race at Santa Anita.
The maiden race is the perfect fit for Faversham, who was eighth in the California Cup Derby at 1 1/16 miles for statebreds on Feb. 19 in his second start.
“This is where he should be,” trainer Art Sherman said on Wednesday morning.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Greyvitos, who underwent knee surgery after winning the Springboard Mile at Remington Park last December, is likely to start in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 14.
Trainer Adam Kitchingman said the $200,000 Lexington Stakes at 1 1/16 miles will be the only start for Greyvitos before a potential appearance in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5.
“If we win the Lexington I think it will get us enough points to get in,” Kitchingman said. ”He’ll have to win it and come out of it right. He’s doing what you want from him.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s been a meet to far exceed expectations for trainer Cheryl Winebaugh and her husband, Kenny. The Chicago couple are in their first full winter at Gulfstream and have won nine races from 42 starts, with one win apiece from nine different horses.
“We feel very fortunate and blessed,” said Kenny Winebaugh, who works side-by-side with his wife in Barn 21.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – As if having the Florida Derby and a massive Rainbow 6 dispersal isn’t enough, the March 31 program at Gulfstream Park also could feature the comeback of 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming.
Trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Wednesday that the colt is a good possibility to run in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Mile, a one-turn mile that will serve as a fresh start for a colt whose three starts following his Derby victory resulted in disappointment.
