Lone Star Park’s stakes schedule for the 2018 meet, which opens April 19, is again topped by a pair of Grade 3, $200,000 races – the Steve Sexton Mile on May 6 and the Lone Star Park Handicap on May 27.
Lone Star has scheduled 11 stakes worth a total of $1 million.
Both the Steve Sexton Mile (formerly the Texas Mile) and the Lone Star Park Handicap are for 3-year-olds and up. The Lone Star Park Handicap will be run over 1 1/16 miles. Both races are being run on a Sunday.
Mobile Bay has drawn post 7 in the eight-horse Louisiana Premier Night Championship, the main event on Saturday night’s program of seven divisional statebred stakes at Delta Downs. The purse has been boosted by $20,000 to $170,000.
Mobile Bay is a millionaire coming off a win in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds. He won last year’s Premier Night Championship at Delta.
There also are several starter races on the 12-race program, which starts at 5:20 p.m. Central.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Derby Watch member Combatant worked Wednesday at Oaklawn Park as he continues preparations for the track’s Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes on Feb. 19.
Combatant will start as a top contender in the 1 1/16-mile race following runner-up finishes in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn and the $400,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Dona Bruja will have a new rider in Eclipse champion Jose Ortiz when she faces La Coronel and Ultra Brat in a terrific lineup of eight older fillies and mares in the Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile Endeavour Stakes on Saturday.
“I don’t know if Jose can ride her all year, but we’re glad to have him for this,” said trainer Ignacio Correas.
Dona Bruja emerged as a major player in the filly-mare turf division last year in winning the Mint Julep and Modesty before having difficult trips to end her season in back-to-back Grade 1 races, the Beverly D. and First Lady.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Mark Casse said all systems are go with World Approval, the reigning Eclipse turf champion who will be using the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Stakes on Saturday as a prep for the $6 million Dubai Turf on March 31. John Velazquez has the return mount.
“We’re ready to get him started again,” said Casse.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The addition of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint to the roster of the two-day race series this fall may lead to changes in the stakes schedule and race plans at the Del Mar summer and Santa Anita autumn meetings.
Valadorna exited her sixth-place finish at odds of 7-2 in the Jan. 28 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston without any issues, trainer Mark Casse said, but there are no immediate plans for Valadorna’s next start.
Valadorna scored open-lengths wins in a Fair Grounds allowance race and the Tiffany Lass Stakes before the Houston Ladies Classic. The Sam Houston main track was rated good for the race, and Casse isn’t sure Valadorna cared for the surface.
Stronger Than Ever, the 3-year-old filly who scored an upset victory Jan. 13 in the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds, won’t start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 17.
Stronger Than Ever, aided by a fast pace, closed from last to win the Silverbulletday by a neck at odds of 33-1, but she has not worked since that start, and trainer Ken McPeek said he is passing the Rachel Alexandra.
It’s early, of course, but the Triple Crown trailhead has a whole slew of Steve Asmussen-trained 3-year-olds geared up and ready to start the trek, and Asmussen this week furthered the process of sorting out their respective journeys.
Principe Guilherme and Snapper Sinclair, the two-three finishers Jan. 13 in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds, both worked five furlongs Monday at Fair Grounds and will start Feb. 17 in the Risen Star Stakes there, Asmussen said.
