Marlon St. Julien, the veteran jockey who was injured in a one-horse accident just after the start of a race May 19 at Prairie Meadows, remains in the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, as he continues a slow recovery from a spinal cord injury.
St. Julien, who had surgery the day after the accident, has movement in his legs and shoulders but has struggled to regain motion in his lower arms, according to Robyn Dean, the wife of St. Julien’s agent, Bobby Dean.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Larry Rivelli has the Arlington barn best stocked with 2-year-olds these days, and it was no surprise that Rivelli swept the first 2-year-old races of the meet over the Memorial Day weekend.
On Saturday, the Iqbaal gelding Echoes of Laughter won by 5 1/2 lengths at first asking, though he only earned a 51 Beyer Speed Figure. Rivelli on Tuesday said Echoes of Laughter could make his next start in the Prairie Gold Juvenile on July 20 at Prairie Meadows.
Iowa is the next frontier for Shotgun Kowboy.
Shotgun Kowboy, who won the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap in his third attempt last Sunday, will take a second crack at Iowa’s premier race for older horses, the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker. The Cornhusker is July 6 at Prairie Meadows.
“That gives me better than 30 days between races,” said C.R. Trout, who bred, owns and trains Shotgun Kowboy. “He’s getting a little age on him, and he needs that time.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Ezmosh, a comfortable winner of the Grade 3, $100,000 Arlington Classic last Saturday, is back at trainer Brad Cox’s main base at Churchill Downs, but Cox said the colt will ship back to Arlington for his next start, the American Derby on July 7.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Group 1-winning Argentine mare Dona Bruja required some time following a tough fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes on April 14 at Keeneland, but when trainer Ignacio Correas returned to his main base at Keeneland after a few days looking in on his Arlington string, he was pleasantly surprised to see Dona Bruja through relatively fresh eyes.
“When you get to see the horses every day, sometimes you take a break of two or three days and you see the changes more,” Correas said Tuesday. “I was very pleased with what I saw from her.”
Monte Man, who won his fifth consecutive race Saturday night in the $75,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint at Evangeline Downs, is now a candidate for the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Sprint on Aug. 4 at Louisiana Downs, trainer Ron Faucheux said.
The Louisiana Cup, like the Legends Sprint, is restricted to horses bred in Louisiana.
“I think we’ll probably go right into the race at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 4,” Faucheux said. “We’ll probably go in that, and then we’ll have a little gap after that. We talked about maybe going to another track outside the state for one race.”
Patrona Margarita, the Texas-bred who won the Grade 2 Pocahontas last year at Churchill Downs, is getting a break, trainer Bret Calhoun said. She ran Saturday at Lone Star Park and finished fourth as the favorite in a $65,000 division of the Texas Stallion Stakes.
Patrona Margarita had shipped in from Kentucky.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Through the first 21 days of the Belmont spring-summer meet, the race for leading rider is super tight.
Four jockeys are within one of the top spot. Manny Franco and Irad Ortiz Jr. are tied with 21 wins apiece, while Jose Ortiz and John Velazquez both have 20.
ELMONT, N.Y. – American Gal, the winner of the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, likely will make her next start in the Grade 2, $250,000 Bed o’ Roses Invitational at Belmont Park on June 8, trainer Simon Callaghan said Wednesday from California.
American Gal is also nominated to the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, a one-turn 1 1/16-mile race on June 9. Callaghan said he might enter American Gal in both races but is more likely to run her in the Bed o’ Roses.
American Gal has won two Grade 1 stakes at seven furlongs – the Test and the Humana Distaff.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Following his nose victory over Pat On the Back in Monday’s $200,000 Commentator Stakes for New York-breds, Diversify is likely headed back to open company in the Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban Stakes here on July 7.
The Suburban is run at 1 1/4 miles, the distance at which Diversify won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last fall.
Diversify bounced back from a last-place finish in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic with his gritty victory in the Commentator, overcoming a stumble at the start and coming from off the pace to win. He typically races on the lead.
