HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Dale Romans continues to solidify plans for his Kentucky Derby hopefuls, saying Storm Runner and Free Drop Billy are his candidates for the next prep here, the March 3 Fountain of Youth.
“Storm Runner came out of his last race in great shape,” said Romans, referring to a Feb. 4 allowance win here over the highly regarded Mississippi.
The Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth is expected to mark the seasonal debut of the reigning divisional champion, Good Magic.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Rick Pitino came to Gulfstream on Wednesday to watch Coach Rocks in a maiden race, but he failed to see the filly. Literally.
Pitino, the Hall of Fame college basketball coach currently living in Miami, experienced temporary blindness in his left eye and had to leave the track about an hour before Coach Rocks won the 1 1/16-mile race by eight lengths.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A big effort on turf at Gulfstream Park last month was all it took for trainer Ian Wilkes to get excited about McCormick again.
“I’m very happy with the way he’s come back as a 4-year-old,” said Wilkes. “I’m encouraged.”
Sunday at Gulfstream, McCormick will have Julien Leparoux back aboard when he looks to improve on a narrow Jan. 15 miss at the same condition in the 11th of 12 races, a $52,000 second-level allowance at a mile on turf. First post is noon Eastern, with the feature scheduled for 5:16 and the Rainbow 6 spanning races 7 through 12.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The middle of February last year was a grim period for jockey Drayden Van Dyke. Weeks earlier, he had broken his arm in a gruesome spill at Santa Anita and had a cast that extended above his elbow.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he recalled this month. “I was in a lot of pain and on a lot of medication. There was a lot of stress.”
Van Dyke was sidelined until late June but managed to salvage the 2017 season, winning 61 races, close to the 69 victories he recorded in both 2015 and 2016. The momentum shows no sign of abating.
The quarantine of a Belmont Park barn Friday due to a suspected case of equine herpes myeloencephalopathy will result in the scratches of 14 New York-based horses entered to race on the six-stakes Winter Carnival program Saturday at Laurel Park.
At 8:30 p.m. Friday, The Maryland Jockey Club sent out a group text announcement stating that horses stabled at Belmont or Aqueduct will not be allowed to enter the grounds of Laurel and Pimlico until further notice. Horses from Laurel or Pimlico who ship to New York to race will not be allowed to return to an MJC track.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Barn 10 at Belmont Park has been placed under quarantine due to a confirmed case of equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM), a respiratory virus that can sometimes be fatal.
In fact, the filly in that barn who was tested for EHM, Ladies Day, was euthanized late Friday morning at Belmont. Ladies Day initially spiked a fever Monday and then had another temperature Thursday, according to her trainer, Tom Albertrani. The filly could not stand Thursday evening through Friday morning.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez is scheduled to make his 2018 New York debut Sunday when he is named to ride Empire Line in the $100,000 Gander Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.
Velazquez is based during the winter at Gulfstream Park, where he has won 33 races from 136 mounts.
Velazquez rode Empire Line to a maiden victory in his debut here Dec. 1. Eric Cancel rode Empire Line to a nose victory over Evaluator in the Damon Runyon Stakes on Jan. 15. Cancel is sidelined due to a back injury.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York State Gaming Commission overturned the Aqueduct stewards’ decision to void two claims made in December by owner Esteban Vargas and trainer Naipaul Chatterpaul. The horses were returned to Chatterpaul’s barn Wednesday.
On Dec. 17, Vargas and Chatterpaul claimed Catch Twenty Two for $50,000 from owner Louis Lazzinarro and trainer Chad Brown, and Milo Milo for $20,000 from owner AJ Racing and trainer Brian Lynch.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Edwin Maldonado has returned to Southern California after riding the first month of the Oaklawn Park meeting in Arkansas.
On Saturday, Maldonado has one mount on a 10-race program – Sandbed in the sixth race, a maiden claimer for sprinters. He had one mount on Friday’s eight-race program.
“It will take time to get things going,” he said Thursday.
At Oaklawn Park, Maldonado had a respectable record of seven wins from 51 mounts, but he said he sought a return to California.
