ARCADIA, Calif. - Drizzy will have his stakes debut in the $100,000 Santa Anita Juvenile on July 2 after a smart win in his first start on Saturday.
Trained by Mike Machowsky for owner and breeder Richard Barton, Drizzy disputed the pace in a maiden race for California-bred 2-year-olds at 4 1/2 furlongs before drawing off to win by 5 1/2 lengths under jockey Joe Talamo.
“It was really impressive,” Machowsky said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A move to sprints has redefined Ransom the Moon’s career this spring, and launched discussions regarding which races to use as a goal this summer and fall.
Ransom the Moon won his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday and is a candidate for the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs on July 1.
“I think the seven-eighths distance will suit him very well,” trainer Phil D’Amato said.
After that, owner Mark Martinez and Jeffry Wilke and D’Amato may have a decision to make.
ARCADIA, Calif. - What a View, the 6-year-old gelding, and his trainer, Kenny Black, are big fans of Santa Anita’s turf course.
Saturday, What a View won his sixth race in 10 starts on the Santa Anita turf course in the $98,000 Crystal Water Stakes for California-bred turf milers. The race served as a prep for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf on June 3.
“I told my owners I’d rather run this horse on turf than work him three times on dirt,” Black said in the winner’s circle.
BALTIMORE – Cloud Computing, winner of Saturday's Preakness Stakes, emerged from the race in good condition, but his status for the Belmont Stakes is undecided, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.
That mirrors the status of Always Dreaming, the Kentucky Derby winner who was eighth in the Preakness, setting up the very real possibility neither will be in the Belmont, the final leg of the Triple Crown, on June 10 at Belmont Park.
Total handle on the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore fell just shy of the record set last year, while overall handle on the 14-race card set a record for the second straight year, according to charts of the races compiled by Equibase.
Betting on the Preakness this year was $60.2 million when counting all wagers that ended in the race, down 1.7 percent from the record of $61.3 million set last year. This year’s Preakness had 10 horses, while last year’s race had 11 horses.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After contemplating retiring “for about 10 minutes” not long ago, trainer Angel Penna Jr. is back in business and has a couple of talented fillies, Hola Charlotte and Eva London, eyeing next Saturday’s $100,000 Musical Romance Stakes.
Hola Charlotte is coming off the best effort of her career, a 4 1/2-length optional-claiming tally here on April 19. Eva London has won her last two starts, both at a mile, by a combined 10 3/4 lengths. The last race came after she was transferred from trainer Amy Tarrant to Penna this spring.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The contingent of American horses traveling to England to compete in the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting next month continues to grow. In addition to the six runners, led by European champion Lady Aurelia, whom trainer Wesley Ward put through workouts at Keeneland on Tuesday, the high-class Kentucky-based runner La Coronel is being pointed to Royal Ascot.
“Right now, it’s a go,” trainer Mark Casse said this week about sending her to the June 23 Coronation at Royal Ascot.
Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., was to shift to a 5:25 p.m. Central first post starting Saturday night. It will remain in place through the close of the meet Sept. 2. The new post is 15 minutes earlier; the change is to avoid overlapping with other tracks, said Chris Warren, director of racing for Evangeline.
Conquest Mo Money, who was to run Saturday in the Preakness Stakes, is not the only talented runner from the recent Sunland Park meet who is now based at Prairie Meadows.
American Dubai, who won four straight races at Sunland, also is stabled in Iowa. His wins in New Mexico included an optional $25,000 claiming race in which he set a track record for a mile and the $150,000 Sunland Park Handicap. He last raced at Lone Star Park, finishing fifth in the Grade 3, $200,000 Steve Sexton Mile on May 7. Following that start, he was shipped to Prairie Meadows.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2017 stakes winners Denman’s Call, Irap, and Ann Arbor Eddie were among 34 workers for trainer Doug O’Neill on the main track at Santa Anita on Friday.
Irap, who finished 18th in the Kentucky Derby, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds and is a candidate for the Belmont Stakes on June 10. The workout was Irap’s first since the Kentucky Derby. Owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam, Irap won the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 15.
