Trainer Mark Hennig typically has a conference call on Mondays with the principals of Courtlandt Farm to discuss upcoming plans for their horses. Barring anything unforeseen, Hennig fully expects plans for Gazelle Stakes winner My Miss Lilly to include the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 4.
Hennig said My Miss Lilly came out of the race at Aqueduct “real well and as long as everything’s going well the plan will be to go forward to the Oaks.”
If Discreet Lover in the coming days continues to show trainer Uriah St. Lewis what he showed him Sunday morning, the upset winner of Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior at Aqueduct will make his next start in the $1.2 million Charles Town Classic on April 21.
“I personally walked him this morning and he wasn’t showing any signs of anything,” St. Lewis said by phone Sunday from Parx Racing. “By Tuesday or Wednesday, if he’s ready to go back to the track and everything goes right, we’ll go to West Virginia.”
Trainer John Servis will soon be bringing many, but not all, of his Florida-based horses back to Parx Racing.
Servis has decided he wants to build a year-round presence in South Florida and will leave about 10 horses at the Palm Meadows Training Center to race under the supervision of his son, Tyler.
"The Stronach Group has done a great job down here turning things around and I want to be a part of it," Servis said. "I think this is a good way to expand my operation and possibly pick up some Florida owners."
Trainer Keith Nations has spent the winter at Tampa Bay Downs and, in the coming weeks, will be transitioning his stable to the Northeast.
Nations will be making a change this year and have his main string at Monmouth Park rather than Delaware Park, where he has been based the last two summers.
"Monmouth is the type of place where if my wife and I have an off day, we'll jump in the car and head over," Nations said. "It's so beautiful. It just makes you feel good to be there.
ARCADIA, Calif. – In just 48 days, Justify has gone from an unstarted maiden to the winner of the Santa Anita Derby, and now he heads to the May 5 Kentucky Derby as the current favorite for the race. There’s potentially room for improvement, too, according to trainer Bob Baffert, who on Sunday morning here at Santa Anita said he had yet to “bear down” on Justify, saying everything to this point has been “done with raw talent.”
“I think he’s caught up now,” Baffert said. “He’s doing that all on his own.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Unique Bella is ready to take her act on the road.
Nearly a year after sore shins prevented her from running in the Kentucky Oaks, Unique Bella finally will make her first start outside California when she heads to Oaklawn Park to run in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on Friday.
Unique Bella will be trying to annex her second Grade 1 race. She won the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 to secure the title as champion female sprinter of 2017.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite their bumper-car battle in the stretch, Vino Rosso and Enticed emerged from Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial in good order and will proceed to Churchill Downs for the May 5 Kentucky Derby. However, both are expected to make a return trip to South Florida to prepare for the Run for the Roses.
Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Wood winner Vino Rosso, and Kiaran McLaughlin, the conditioner of runner-up Enticed, both indicated that neither horse was worse for the wear from a bumping incident that somewhat clouded the race.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby picked up a new player over the weekend when Tampa Bay Derby winner Quip scratched from the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and rolled into the Oaklawn backstretch at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
Quip tracked Sunday at Oaklawn, where he will start as one of the top choices in the Arkansas Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race that closes out the meet on Saturday. The Arkansas Derby is a points race for the Kentucky Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Good Magic emerged from his Saturday victory in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in excellent shape and will remain stabled here for the foreseeable future before moving down the road to Churchill Downs as one of the top contenders for the May 5 Kentucky Derby.
Brown reiterated Sunday morning what he told the media the previous evening at a post-race briefing – that Good Magic will remain here long enough to have at least one breeze before moving over to Louisville for at least one serious work over the Churchill main track.
