HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Peter Walder said he finally hit “rock bottom mentally” this spring before deciding to check into a rehab facility, a choice he now credits for changing his life.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pink Lloyd extended his Woodbine stakes winning streak into double digits with his 10th consecutive victory in the New Providence Stakes on May 13. Trainer Robert Tiller said he is now pointing Pink Lloyd to the $100,000 Achievement Stakes on June 3 at Woodbine.
The Achievement Stakes, for Ontario-bred 3-year-olds and up, will be over six furlongs on Tapeta. Pink Lloyd also won last season’s Achievement Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse looks to have a strong contingent heading toward the 159th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds on June 30 at Woodbine. Casse has four horses nominated to the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, including the top two horses on the first Daily Racing Form Queen’s Plate Watch list of 2018, Telekinesis and Wonder Gadot.
BALTIMORE - The Friday Black-Eyed Susan card and the Preakness program on Saturday will be streamed in Spanish for the first time on Pimlico.com and GulfstreamPark.com.
Handicappers Alfredo Alfonzo of Videohipico.com and Juan Carlos Palma will provide commentary on programs from Pimlico and Gulfstream. Race calls will be provided by Pedro Casella. Claudia Spadaro will be live from Pimlico providing updates and interviews.
BALTIMORE – Midnight Disguise will scratch from Friday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico due to a bruised right front foot, trainer Linda Rice said Thursday. Midnight Disguise was the co-second choice at 4-1 on the track morning-line.
Rice said Midnight Disguise showed signs of lameness Wednesday night around feed time at her Belmont Park barn. Further evaluation revealed the bruise.
“We’re working on it, but she’s not good enough to take to Maryland,” Rice said by phone from New York Thursday afternoon.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ontario-bred 3-year-old Flameaway, who finished 13th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5, will not run in the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on June 30, and will instead be pointed to the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby on June 23 at Thistledown, trainer Mark Casse said.
“After much discussion with Mr. Oxley, at this point in time Flameaway is not going to pursue the Queen’s Plate,” Casse said, referring to owner John Oxley. “If all goes as planned, he’s going to go to the Ohio Derby, which then is too close to the Queen’s Plate.”
BALTIMORE – Diamond King, in his first morning at Pimlico on Thursday, jogged two miles the wrong way – clockwise – around the track under exercise rider Efrain Santana. The track was sloppy and a steady rain was falling.
Diamond King, a winner of four of six starts, will taking a big step up in class in the 143rd Preakness, and trainer John Servis is realistic about his chances of winning. Diamond King is doing exceptionally well, however, and comes into the race off a four-week break following his victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes on April 21.
BALTIMORE – Jeannine Edwards, who worked as an in-house television anchor for the Maryland Jockey Club tracks at the outset of her brilliant 22-year career as a racing and sports reporter, was honored Thursday morning with the Special Award of Merit at the annual Alibi Breakfast in the Pimlico clubhouse.
Edwards worked as an exercise rider, jockey, and assistant trainer prior to entering the television field. She retired early this year.
BALTIMORE – Humberto Gomez, the exercise rider of Kentucky Derby winner Justify, will be watching Saturday’s Preakness with a heavy heart after his father, Ulpiano Portela Gomez, died Tuesday in Mexico. He was 86.
“It was tough because he’s the one who brought me to the horse industry, but at least he got to watch the Kentucky Derby,” Gomez said Wednesday after arriving in Baltimore from Kentucky with Justify. “I guess he was proud of me.”
BALTIMORE – While Stonestreet Stables has yet to win the Kentucky Derby, it has twice enjoyed success in the Preakness at the expense of a Kentucky Derby winner.
On Saturday at Pimlico Racecourse, when the Preakness is run for the 143rd time, Stonestreet, along with its partner Bob Edwards, will seek its third victory in this race while hoping to spoil the Triple Crown hopes of undefeated Derby winner Justify.