LEXINGTON, Ky. – By itself, the sixth race at Keeneland Sunday would serve as an alluring feature, but it’s overshadowed by the Grade 2 Appalachian and Grade 3 Beaumont. Nonetheless, the $82,000 turf allowance with wide-open conditions could be a key race toward more high-profile events, given the oversubscribed field is composed almost entirely of stakes winners, and many of those graded winners.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shivermetimbers has not won since November, but has kept pretty good company in recent months. Shivermetimbers was fourth behind McKinzie in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January, seventh behind Lombo in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes in February, and second to the highly regarded Justify in an optional claimer March 11.
There will be no trip to the Kentucky Derby for Shivermetimbers, but an appearance in an optional claimer for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on Sunday could lead to a start in a graded stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – My Boy Jack, third in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 24, is expected to start in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday in an effort to secure sufficient qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.
Through Friday, My Boy Jack had 32 qualifying points and was 17th on the list of potential Kentucky Derby runners. The Kentucky Derby, scheduled for May 5 at Churchill Downs, has a limit of 20 starters.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Fields for Oaklawn’s annual Racing Festival of the South stakes races are beginning to take shape, with Magnum Moon anticipated to run in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby and champion Unique Bella expected for the Grade 1, $700,000 Apple Blossom Handicap.
The Festival comprises seven stakes worth a total of $3.5 million, with the races run over the final three dates of the meet: Thursday through Saturday. It’s the annual grand finale to the Oaklawn season in a concept hatched by the late Charles Cella in 1974.
Hazel Park Raceway made a sudden announcement on Wednesday morning during its scheduled ship-in day that the track would not accept horses on the grounds, though what exactly that means remains murky.
The Detroit-area racetrack opened its grounds for horsemen to set up their stalls on Monday and Tuesday, but Michigan Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association president George Kutlenios said the announcement shutting the track off to horses came between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday morning.
SOUL P SAY
Trainer: Allen Milligan
Last Race: March 31, 6th
Finish: 2nd by seven lengths
Beyer: 76
He was the only front-runner who stuck around late in a $50,000 conditioned claiming route won by a class dropper who closed from last. For his effort, Soul P Say equaled his best career Beyer Speed Figure, a 76.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite offering a $1 million purse and a great opportunity to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct drew a modest nine-horse field topped by Enticed, a perfect-trip winner of the Grade 3 Gotham, and the Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire. There are five horses in the field who would be eligible for a first-level allowance race.
The Kentucky Derby shipping plans for Runaway Ghost, the winner of the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby, are coming together, trainer Todd Fincher said Tuesday. Owned by Joe Peacock, Runaway Ghost is based at Sunland Park in New Mexico.
“He’s tentatively scheduled to fly out April 17,” Fincher said. “He’ll fly into Lexington, and van to Louisville.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Pepe Tono, who has been 10-1 or higher in his four starts and was sixth in his only stakes appearance, was supplemented to Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Wednesday.
The supplemental fee was $20,000. There is an additional $15,000 in entry and starting fees.
“That hurts,” said trainer Victor Garcia.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rudy Rodriguez trains three of the seven horses entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at 1 1/8 miles.
Control Group, who just won the Mr. Sinatra last Saturday at Aqueduct, would be wheeling back in a week after having his last two races spaced two months apart. Wild About Deb, who won a first-level allowance race here on March 3, and Admiral Blue, fourth in the Henry E. Johnson Memorial at Laurel on March 17, also were entered by Rodriguez.
