ARCADIA, Calif. - Vale Dori, the winner of four consecutive graded stakes since early December, is scheduled to start in the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes at Santa Anita on May 7, trainer Bob Baffert said.
Vale Dori worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 at Santa Anita on Sunday, her first work since a six-furlong work in 1:12 on April 19. Baffert said the $100,000 Adoration Stakes at 1 1/16 miles was preferred to stakes at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – McCraken, one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby next Saturday, and Fast and Accurate, one of the longer shots in the field, both completed their serious training for the Derby with five-furlong workouts Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
They were two of three Derby runners to work Sunday. At the Fair Hill training center in Maryland, Wood Memorial winner Irish War Cry had his final work.
McCraken was timed by Daily Racing Form in 1:00.67 under his regular rider, Brian Hernandez Jr.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gormley, the winner of the Santa Anita Derby on April 8, worked seven furlongs in 1:26.20 at Santa Anita on Saturday in his final major preparation for the Kentucky Derby next weekend.
Later in the morning, Royal Mo, third in the Santa Anita Derby, worked six furlongs in 1:13. His next race was not clear as of Saturday but could be the Kentucky Derby.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Rainy
Track: Good
Temp.: 65
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Some major rainstorms passed through the area early Saturday morning and continued intermittently during training hours, but nothing could deter J Boys Echo from getting in his final Kentucky Derby work over a racetrack upgraded from muddy to “good” after the renovation break and which yielded some quick workout times after being tightened up by the precipitation.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thunder Snow is officially in, Battalion Runner and Malagacy are officially out, Lookin At Lee and Sonneteer are now in the field, Girvin took a big step toward making the race, J Boys Echo worked at Churchill Downs, and both Gormley and Royal Mo worked at Santa Anita, all part of a busy Saturday on many fronts seven days out from the Kentucky Derby on May 6.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Louisiana Derby winner Girvin, who missed a work last weekend while recovering from a quarter crack in his right front hoof, breezed five furlongs in company in 59.60 seconds Saturday at Keeneland in his final work before the Kentucky Derby.
Keeneland concluded its spring meet on Friday with relatively steady overall attendance and handle figures despite running one fewer day, and with a strong performance on the day of the track’s signature Kentucky Derby prep.
With increased average daily purses of $709,861 helping to attract fields averaging 8.6 horses, total ontrack handle for the 15-day meet was $17,668,979, down 1.7 percent from $17,974,896 during the 16-day spring meet in 2016. This year's meet was one day shorter because the track was dark on Easter Sunday, which fell outside the meet in 2016.
Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., has delayed the start of turf racing until May 24. The track had planned to begin racing on turf Friday.
In addition, the status of two turf stakes that were to have been run Friday and Saturday, the Opelousas and John Henry, will be determined by May 3. One option is to run them on dirt, but that is being discussed with horsemen, according to Chris Warren, director of racing for Evangeline.
Great Minds ran one of the best races of his career last year at Lone Star Park, and he is set to return to the Grand Prairie, Texas, track next weekend for the Grade 3, $200,000 Steve Sexton Mile. Great Minds won the race a year ago, when it was called the Texas Mile.
“We’re on schedule,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said Friday.
Entries for the Steve Sexton Mile will be taken Sunday. The race is scheduled for May 7.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Total handle at California tracks increased 2.7 percent in March but showed a sharp decline of 8.5 percent in the first three months of the year, according to figures released at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.
Handle at Thoroughbred meetings at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, the harness meeting at Cal-Expo, and the Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred meeting at Los Alamitos totaled $252.8 million in March, compared with $245.8 million in March 2016.
