Pink Lloyd, who was unbeaten in eight stakes starts last year, is a finalist in two 2017 Sovereign Award categories that were announced by the Jockey Club of Canada on Thursday.
The 43rd annual Sovereign Awards Ceremony will take place on April 19, when the hardware for 16 awards will be doled out at Woodbine.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Two of the fastest sprinters in January at Santa Anita – both trained by John Sadler – will try to become graded stakes winners next out.
Edwards Going Left, who earned a 102 Beyer winning the California Cup Sprint by six lengths last Saturday, and the filly Selcourt, who crushed the Kalookan Queen Stakes with a 96 Beyer on Jan. 14, both could be favored while seeking their first graded win.
Sadler said Edwards Going Left came out of the Cal Cup Sprint in top shape and will make his next start March 10 here in the Grade 1, $400,000 Triple Bend Stakes.
The West Virginia Racing Commission, which on Jan. 23 voted not to approve the purse of the state's biggest horse race, the $1.2 million Charles Town Classic, has called another meeting for Monday.
There are three items on the agenda:
1) Rescind Commission's previous vote regarding Charles Town Classic purse.
2) Approval of the 2018 Stakes Schedule at Charles Town.
3) Adjournment.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher will start three of the six horses in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, but most of the focus will be on Marconi, a colt with a big price tag, big pedigree, and big stride.
Marconi is a son of Tapit and a half-brother to 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man. He was purchased as a yearling for $2 million by a partnership of Bridlewood Farm and the Coolmore connections of Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Enticed, the winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last November, will break from post 1 when making his 2018 debut Saturday at Gulfstream Park in a field of 11 3-year-olds in the 29th running of the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes.
Seventeen Kentucky Derby qualifying points, including 10 to the winner, are at stake in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, which will be the last of 12 races on a Saturday card that starts at noon Eastern. Post time for the Holy Bull will be about 5:49.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Brad Cox seems to be winning races everywhere this winter and that includes Aqueduct, where he went 4 for 6 in January. This is the first winter in which Cox has maintained a string in New York.
“I was kind of on the fence whether to stay or go probably until November,” Cox said. “I’m glad we stayed. The horses are running well, doing well. We’ve been able to get the right races for them. It’s really worked out well.”
Cosmic Burst worked five-eighths in 1:01.60 on Monday at Oaklawn as she prepares for her 3-year-old debut, which is scheduled to come Feb. 10 at Oaklawn in the $125,000 Martha Washington, trainer Donnie Von Hemel said.
Cosmic Burst has won her last three races, including the $100,000 Trapeze at a mile in December at Remington Park and an allowance at Churchill Downs. Von Hemel has been keeping up with the local 3-year-old filly division, including the recent Dixie Belle, which Amy’s Challenge won in a stretch battle with Mia Mischief.
It’s not every day an 8-year-old gets claimed for $80,000. But then, Hogy is not your typical 8-year-old.
“He’s got the legs of a 3-year-old,” trainer Mike Maker said.
Maker trains Hogy for Michael Hui, who claimed Hogy last August at Saratoga. Hogy, now 9, picked up a second stakes win for Hui on Sunday at Sam Houston in the $75,000 Frontier Utilities Turf Sprint. Hogy closed from last to win by 2 1/4 lengths under Eclipse Award-winning jockey Jose Ortiz, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 97.
“He’s a remarkable horse at his age,” Maker said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Hoppertunity, a multiple stakes-winning millionaire, will miss Saturday’s Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita while undergoing treatment for an abscess in a foot. Trainer Bob Baffert said the abscess was detected Tuesday. Entries for the $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles for older horses were taken Wednesday.
Baffert said on Wednesday that there isn’t enough time to get Hoppertunity ready for the San Pasqual.
“He looks good today, but it’s too close,” Baffert said.
