ARCADIA, Calif. – Rayya slowed down Saturday morning, by design, in her final workout before shipping to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Oaks.
Her six-furlong drill at Santa Anita was her second work for trainer Bob Baffert and a stark contrast to last week, when she worked a fast six furlongs from the gate.
“She worked hard last week, I didn’t want to do too much [Saturday],” Baffert said. “We were trying to get her to sit off, get her to relax.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Brad Cox describes himself as "a competitive guy." Apparently his filly Monomoy Girl, who will be among the Kentucky Oaks favorites next week, is a competitive girl.
As she did last week in her penultimate work, Monomoy Girl went out for her final Kentucky Oaks drill in company with Secret House. Monomoy Girl, under regular jockey Florent Geroux, was outside her partner as the two went five furlongs in 1:01.40 on Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch’s watch.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The racing surface at Santa Anita was slow and heavy early Saturday morning, but that did not matter to Midnight Bisou. By the time she returned to trainer Bill Spawr’s barn after working six furlongs at 4:30, she was not even blowing.
“That was a hell of a work,” jockey Martin Pedroza said. “She galloped out strong, too.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – All-sources handle was up 7.2 percent at the 16-day spring meet that ran April 6-27 at Keeneland, according to figures released Friday evening by track publicity.
Gross handle was $157,172,604, for a per-day average of $9,823,288. The average daily handle here last spring during a 15-day meet was $9,159,970, which was up less than 1 percent over the 2016 spring meet.
A Keeneland release said “a rollback from the takeout increase in the fall of 2017 was favorably received by horseplayers.”
Oaklawn Park drew record handle on Arkansas Derby Day April 14, helping the track realize double-digit gains in handle during its 55-date meet. The Hot Springs, Ark., track wrapped up its season with the Arkansas Derby card, but will be racing at this time next year as Oaklawn will stretch its season into May.
Handle on Oaklawn’s races from all sources averaged $3,812,644 a card at this meet, up 15 percent from 2017, according to figures released by the track.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Track: Fast
Weather: Sunny
Temperature: 49
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following almost a week of relative inactivity, the action picked up appreciably Friday on the Kentucky Derby/Oaks watch at Churchill Downs. Eleven prospective starters – five for the Derby and six for the Oaks – worked on a clear, crisp morning, beginning shortly after the racetrack opened at 5:15 and continuing until after the second renovation break nearly four hours later.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Norm McKnight won his first Woodbine training title in 2017, and picked up right where he left off during the opening weekend of the 2018 season, recording four wins from his first six starts.
“It wasn’t too bad,” McKnight said. “I was certainly surprised. The horses ran well and it went well. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pink Lloyd recorded his ninth consecutive win, all in Woodbine stakes, in last Saturday’s Jacques Cartier Stakes, just two days after being named 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year. He will aim to make it 10 in a row in the $100,000 New Providence Stakes on May 13, trainer Robert Tiller said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though nominated to Saturday’s Grade 3 Westchester here, Irish War Cry will likely pass that race and point to the Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special on May 18, trainer Graham Motion said.
Irish War Cry, winner of last year’s Wood Memorial and runner-up in the Belmont Stakes, finished last of six in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile on March 31. Motion said that Irish War Cry came out of that race with a case of the thumps, an electrolyte imbalance.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Several of trainer Christophe Clement’s stakes horses arrived in New York from South Florida this week and are being geared up for races on the June 9 Belmont Stakes undercard.
Lull, winner of the Grade 3 Honey Fox at Gulfstream Park in her seasonal debut, will be trained up to the Grade 1 Just a Game going a mile.
“She came in yesterday, had her first day back on the main track today, and looks well,” Clement said Friday.
