California-based trainer Phil D’Amato may have two starters in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 11 – Stronghold, a Grade 1 winner in 2024, and the recent acquisition Maximum Bourbon.
Stronghold was scratched from the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita last Sunday in favor of a start at Keeneland or Oaklawn Park in coming weeks. The $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint at six furlongs is one of those potential targets, D’Amato said.
Cee Drew and Start the Ride were part of a milestone day for trainer Dan Blacker at Santa Anita on Jan. 17, the first time in his 15-year career he won two stakes on the same day.
That day, Cee Drew won the $175,000 California Cup Oaks for statebred fillies on turf as the 2-1 second choice. Start the Ride won the $175,500 California Cup Derby at 13-1 in his first official start.
They are part of stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, and this time both are longshots.
Class President, winner of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, will scratch from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes, trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday.
“Just didn’t like the way he went today,” Pletcher said by phone from Keeneland. “Not saying he’s off the [Kentucky] Derby trail. We’ll check him out.”
The Blue Grass also lost Ocelli, who arrived in New York Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial after vanning from Kentucky.
Now undefeated in two career starts, Shane’s Wonder has trainer Alfredo Velazquez in an excitable mood at Parx Racing. A potential stakes start could be on the horizon if the 3-year-old colt keeps making magic on the lead.
In his second start on Wednesday, March 25, Shane’s Wonder faced open company for the first time in a first-level allowance with a $75,000 optional claiming tag. In his second start under jockey Eliseo Ruiz, he looked even sharper than he did in a statebred maiden special weight in February.
Full Serrano, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2024, is unlikely to race again until the Del Mar summer meeting after finishing a troubled fourth in the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile in Arkansas on Saturday.
The 2-1 second choice in a field of seven, Full Serrano stumbled at the start of the $500,000 Oaklawn Mile, breaking three or four lengths behind the field. Full Serrano raced wide throughout the race and finished 3 3/4 lengths behind 9-5 favorite Nu What’s New.
Without the troubled start, “he would have won,” trainer John Sadler said. “It was one of those deals.”
Queen Maxima, a five-time stakes winner in the last 14 months, will face a reduced field in Saturday’s Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Two prominent 4-year-old fillies – Gratefully and Saratoga Special, first and second in the Wishing Well Stakes on Feb. 21 – are not part of a field of seven in the $100,000 Monrovia at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial figures to be a future-defining race for Napoleon Solo.
More than just trying to accrue qualifying points for the May 2 Kentucky Derby, Napoleon Solo’s performance in the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial likely will dictate whether the son of Liam’s Map continues racing long or shortens up to races run around one turn.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced that it will host the Fair Hill Turf Showcase, a two-day event that is intended to include flat turf racing and steeplechases. It will be held on Sunday, May 24, and Monday, May 25, which is Memorial Day.
Jockey Carol Cedeno will make her return to the Mid-Atlantic region in the first race Friday at Laurel Park. Since fracturing her wrist in a fall at Meadowlands Racetrack last September, she has gradually recovered and feels prepared to take on full afternoon slates soon.
“I feel great,” Cedeno said. “I’ve been going to the gym and I have the Equicizer [a mechanical horse] at the house. I’ve been breezing horses a lot, so I’m ready.”
Jockey Eliseo Ruiz is under investigation for his ride in Tuesday’s ninth race at Parx Racing, in which he ceded a considerable lead after failing to use his crop in the stretch.
Ruiz was riding Bailout Billy in a first-level allowance and carried a commanding early lead into the stretch when the 4-year-old filly suddenly began fading back toward the field. The jockey looked back several times as challengers drew near, but he did not appear to urge his filly. She was eventually passed by 9-5 favorite Cocktail Humor, who won by a half-length.
