OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tears of unbridled joy are easy to spot in the aftermath of the Kentucky Derby, but not necessarily after one of its prep races eight weeks out.
Yet there was Brooke Baker crying her eyes out as Quip made his return to the Tampa Bay Downs winner’s circle early Saturday evening. Baker and Rodolphe Brisset, the trainer of Quip, were married about a year ago, and the colt’s upset triumph in the Tampa Bay Derby meant the world to them.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The retired race car driver A.J. Foyt Jr. will be racing on two fronts Sunday. Colonelsdarktemper, his West Virginia Derby winner, launches his 4-year-old season in the eighth race at Oaklawn Park. The same day, Foyt’s race cars will see action, said Jinks Fires, who trains Colonelsdarktemper.
“He’s got two cars racing that he owns Sunday in Florida,” Fires said.
Cooptado was born in Argentina, has raced extensively in Dubai and Singapore, and has an English trainer and jockey in his corner. He’s an 8-year-old gelding with a rich history – and a chance to win the featured seventh race Sunday at Fair Grounds.
Cooptado is one of nine entrants in a one mile and 70-yard dirt race with multiple high-end allowance conditions and an $80,000 claiming option. Cooptado won the Tenacious Stakes by a nose in December at Fair Grounds, and Sunday’s race looks at least as challenging as the Tenacious.
Forever Unbridled took another step toward her intended start in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31 at Meydan Racecourse when she worked what trainer Dallas Stewart called a “strong” five furlongs Friday morning at Fair Grounds.
Working by herself, as usual, Forever Unbridled got an official clocking of 1:00.60. Stewart said the mare then galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.20 and seven furlongs in about 1:27.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The fields for next Saturday’s Grade 2 Rebel, Grade 2 Azeri, and $300,000 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park are just starting to take shape.
There is a working list of 11-12 for the Rebel, a points race for the Kentucky Derby, while Group 1 winner Blue Prize was to ship out of Florida on Friday for the Azeri.
Entries for the rich program will be drawn Wednesday. A flight bringing horses from Southern California is scheduled to arrive a handful of days out from the races, said Pat Pope, racing secretary for Oaklawn.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Roy H, the 2017 champion sprinter, will lead trainer Peter Miller’s team bound for Dubai’s Meydan Racecourse and seven-figure stakes on the Dubai World Cup program March 31.
Miller considered Roy H for Saturday’s Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita, but opted not to run the 6-year-old gelding twice in March.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The weather will dictate the field for Sunday’s $100,000 Sensational Star Stakes for California-bred sprinters at Santa Anita.
The race is scheduled for about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, but there is a chance of rain late Saturday and early Sunday that could put the race on the main track.
Peter Miller trains four of the 14 horses entered in a race that will have a maximum of 11 if run on the hillside turf course. Miller does not plan to start all four.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Only 11 fillies and mares were nominated to next Saturday’s $200,000 Inside Information, the final graded race on the local stakes schedule until Florida Derby Day, March 31.
The list is led by Grade 3 winners Jordan’s Henny and Rich Mommy, the first and third finishers in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie earlier in the meet.
Curlin’s Approval, the Hurricane Bertie runner-up who finished off the board as the odds-on favorite in the 2017 Inside Information, was conspicuous by her absence on the nomination sheet.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Avery Island, impressive winner of the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct in his 3-year-old debut, continued Friday toward his next objective, the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, by working five furlongs in 1:01.20 at the Palm Meadows training center.
“He worked very well and galloped-out strong,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who witnessed the work instead of accompanying his other top Kentucky Derby prospect, Enticed, to New York for Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham.
McLaughlin said Avery Island worked solo, as usual, on Friday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A recent bout with a cough may prevent the champion Unique Bella from starting in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on March 17.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday that Unique Bella has resumed training, but was unsure about immediate race plans for the sensational 4-year-old filly.
“She had a little bit of a cough and we haven’t ruled the race out yet,” Hollendorfer said.
“We have been very conservative. We’re taking things day by day.”
