HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Another multiple stakes-winning filly who showed big speed at Gulfstream on Saturday morning is Starship Bonita. The Florida-bred worked five furlongs in company with two stablemates in 58.49 seconds over a glib track in her first serious move since launching her 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the seven-furlong Sophomore Fillies Stakes on March 25 at Tampa Bay Downs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Thursday’s 10-race card at Gulfstream is highlighted by the eighth event, a $40,000 optional-claiming test at a mile for Florida-bred 3-year-old fillies that drew a pretty familiar field of nine, topped by Bitacora and Sober On Sunday. But the most intriguing contest of the day comes about 30 minutes later, a one-mile maiden special weight race that drew first-time starters from two powerhouse barns, Legit for trainer Todd Pletcher and Our Honor from the stable of Chad Brown.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Canada’s Horse of the Year for 2017 will be named Thursday at the 43rd annual Sovereign Awards ceremony at the Palais Royale in Toronto.
While the Jockey Club of Canada named the Sovereign Award finalists in each division in February, the finalists for Canadian Horse of the Year will be revealed at the awards ceremony Thursday night. Among the horses expected to contend for Horse of the Year honors are Pink Lloyd and Ami’s Mesa.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The first races for 2-year-olds on this circuit will be this week, and both – worth $100,000 – drew decent-sized fields.
On Wednesday, a 4 1/2-furlong race drew nine juvenile fillies, including coupled entries from the barns of Todd Pletcher and Gary Contessa.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Dublin Green runs in Wednesday’s fourth race at Aqueduct, he’ll be making his first start in a year. His jockey, however, will be coming off an even longer layoff.
Robbie Davis, who hasn’t ridden in a parimutuel horse race in nearly five years, will return to competitive riding Wednesday aboard Dublin Green in the six-furlong turf race for New York-breds. Davis also is the trainer and owner of the 4-year-old son of Dublin.
“I’ve always had a dream to ride one, train one, and own one,” Davis said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A bulky field of 13 fillies and mares has been drawn for the Grade 3, $100,000 Doubledogdare Stakes, the feature of a 10-race Friday card. Valadorna, the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up who won her first stakes in December, could be a slight favorite after being assigned post 9 in a very contentious lineup that also includes Mines and Magic, Jenda’s Agenda, Well Humored, and Tapa Tapa Tapa.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Brian Lynch said Heart to Heart likely will have two or three more races, perhaps all in New York, as the trainer takes a long view of the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill in early November as the year-end goal.
Heart to Heart was a wire-to-wire winner here Friday in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile. The 7-year-old horse now has won back-to-back Grade 1 races, following the Gulfstream Park Turf in February, after coming close on several occasions to reaching that milestone during his 33 prior starts.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Horses have been racing at Keeneland for more than 80 years, and no can seem to recall a trainer doing what Chad Brown did here Saturday.
Brown trainees filled the top three spots in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley when Sistercharlie charged to victory over stablemates Fourstar Crook and Off Limits. There are no such comprehensive records, but it is believed to be the first occasion for such a sweep in a Grade 1 event at Keeneland.
“It’s a tribute to my staff, these incredible horses, and my clientele,” Brown said afterward. “I’m extremely grateful.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – My Boy Jack will remain stabled at Keeneland until the coming weekend as trainer Keith Desormeaux begins to finalize his Kentucky Derby plans for the Lexington Stakes winner.
My Boy Jack, up in the final strides Saturday to defeat Telekinesis in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland, will give Desormeaux a Derby starter for the third straight year, following Exaggerator (second in 2016) and Sonneteer (16th in 2017).
Business as usual wouldn’t be a bad goal for the 120-day race meeting that starts Tuesday at Indiana Grand Racing and Casino, but the question is whether the Indianapolis-area racino can even maintain its status quo.
After averaging 8.5 starters per Thoroughbred race and conducting 1,193 such races during its 2015 meet, Indiana Grand averaged just 8.09 starters in 1,104 Thoroughbred races during the 2017 season. The average number of starters in 176 turf races fell to 8.60, the first time since 2014 that Indiana turf races averaged fewer than nine starters.
