Something Awesome, who finished last as the 5-2 favorite, bled through Lasix during the $300,000 Pimlico Special on Friday, according to trainer Jose Corrales.
Since being transferred to Corrales last fall, Something Awesome had won five of six starts, including the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic and the Grade 3 General George at Laurel Park. The 7-year-old had previously been racing on a synthetic surface at Woodbine.
“On a scale of one to five, he bled a three,” Corrales said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With more than four inches of rain falling locally from 5-9 a.m. on Sunday, it was a miracle of sorts the 11-race Gulfstream Park program went on as scheduled that afternoon over a racetrack officially designated as “good” throughout the card.
ARCADIA, Calif. –Jockey Mike Smith, who rides Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Justify, will serve two days of suspension this week for careless riding May 6 at Santa Anita.
Smith was to serve a four-day suspension last Thursday-Sunday, but he sat out only Thursday and Sunday and rode in graded stakes at Pimlico on Friday and Saturday. Smith won the Preakness on Saturday aboard Justify.
Under California racing rules, jockeys are allowed to ride graded stakes while under suspension for routine infractions as long as they serve the days at a later date.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Catalina Cruiser won an optional claimer Saturday at Santa Anita to remained unbeaten in two starts, both sprints, and will stretch out to two turns in his next few starts, trainer John Sadler said.
On Saturday, in his first start of the year, Catalina Cruiser led throughout going six furlongs under Drayden Van Dyke and won by 2 1/4 lengths. He was timed in 1:08.64 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 101. Owned by Pete and Kosta Hronis, Catalina Cruiser won a maiden race last October.
“He’s a very talented horse,” Sadler said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Five weeks after a hard-fought win in the Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile on turf, the 7-year-old What a View will be asked to do something he has never done in Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita – start at 1 1/4 miles on turf.
The assignment is achievable from trainer Kenny Black’s point of view.
“I believe my horse is training and acting as good as I’ve ever had him,” Black wrote in a text message Sunday. “He should be sitting on a big race.”
BALTIMORE – With the 143rd Preakness in the books, Tim Ritvo, The Stronach Group’s chief operating officer, is hopeful decisions will be made during the next 12 months regarding Pimlico Race Course’s future and where the Preakness will be held in the years to follow.
Phase 2 of a Maryland Stadium Authority study on Pimlico is under way, and its results could be issued this fall. Phase 1, completed in February 2017, estimated it would cost $300 million to renovate the dilapidated but somehow homey racetrack.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017, breezed six furlongs in 1:14.20 on Sunday in advance of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on June 2.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Unique Bella's workout was “real nice. It wasn’t fast, but it was breezing. She did it quite easy.”
A 4-year-old, Unique Bella was second in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 13 after a troubled start. She won the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at 1 1/16 miles by nine lengths here on Feb. 10 in her only other start this year.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Pavel, fourth in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 31, is likely to run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on dirt and not the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf, trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday.
Pavel has never run on turf, and has had mixed results at 1 1/4 miles on dirt, the distance of the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Last year, Pavel was third in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Park, but 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at the same distance at Del Mar.
