Songbird is coming around quickly, and though the two-time champion is not expected to make her first start of the year until June 3 at Santa Anita in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile, her first option is much sooner.
Songbird has been nominated to the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes, a $100,000 race on May 7 at 1 1/16 miles.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Finest City and trainer Ian Kruljac will race at Churchill Downs for the first time in their careers next week. The question is which race?
Kruljac said Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016, will enter two stakes – the Grade 1 La Troienne at 1 1/16 miles next Friday and the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at seven furlongs next Saturday.
“We’re going to enter both races and probably [run in] the Humana,” Kruljac said.
He said a decision will be made after “we see post positions.” Kruljac said Mike Smith will ride the filly in either race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Southern Ring captured Woodbine’s first graded stakes race of the season last Sunday, holding off Canadian champion female sprinter River Maid to win the $147,250 Whimsical Stakes. It was Southern Ring’s second Grade 3 stakes victory, following her win in the Ontario Fashion Stakes last season.
While Southern Ring has been effective coming off the pace, she found herself on the lead in the Whimsical under jockey Eurico Da Silva. Trainer Malcolm Pierce said the race strategy shifted once Southern Ring broke from the gate.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Paradise Woods will ship from California to Kentucky at the top of her game.
The romping winner of the Santa Anita Oaks and the presumptive favorite for the Kentucky Oaks next Friday at Churchill Downs, Paradise Woods cruised through her final prerace workout Thursday at Santa Anita, after which trainer Richard Mandella made no attempt to hide his enthusiasm.
“She looks like she’s getting better to me,” an animated Mandella said. “It looked like an afternoon gallop. I’m pretty excited.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bret Calhoun wanted to run Finley’sluckycharm in the Grade 1 Madison earlier this month at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Humana Distaff on the Derby undercard, but a minor injury to the filly’s hind leg is forcing her to miss both races.
Instead, Finley’sluckycharm will make her 4-year-old debut as a heavy favorite here Saturday night in the $65,000 Roxelana, an overnight stakes at six furlongs.
The daughter of Twirling Candy was a close second in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita in her most recent race last December and has won 5 of 7 career starts.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As good as his horses look, Kelly Breen tries to outdo them. The 47-year-old trainer will have Miss Sky Warrior as one of the favorites in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, when many of the 100,000-plus racing fans will be dressed to impress amid the traditional “Pink Out” theme.
Breen is known for a sartorial splendor rarely undertaken by Thoroughbred trainers, with a natty fedora the unfailing final complement to a stylish outfit.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when his close friend Robby Albarado suffered an injury that would keep the jockey from riding J Boys Echo in the 143rd Kentucky Derby next Saturday.
After the injury, Romans was hounded from all sides as to who would replace Albarado. On Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs, he joked, “I’ve been in touch with [Eddie] Delahoussaye to see if he can get ready in time,” referring to the retired Hall of Fame jockey who won the Derby in 1982 and 1983.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Paradise Woods jumped up from out of nowhere, so it seemed.
Yet overnight sensations take longer than that, even if Paradise Woods caught most everyone by surprise, paying $18.20 when she trounced her rivals in the Santa Anita Oaks by nearly 12 lengths in just the third start of her career.
“You don’t plan that,” trainer Richard Mandella said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Buoyed by its successes of the past year, officials with Churchill Downs Inc. have announced formation of another ownership group open to the public.
For a one-time fee of $500, new members can buy into a 2-year-old to be trained by Dallas Stewart. A Gio Ponti filly, the 2-year-old was recently purchased for $52,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales auction. The Churchill Downs Racing Club will sell 200 shares in the filly, as has been done with other partnerships since the concept was implemented last spring.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. will not be riding in this year’s Kentucky Oaks or Kentucky Derby. Instead, he will stay at his home base of Belmont Park and ride several top contenders in stakes for trainer Chad Brown those days.
On May 6, Derby Day, Ortiz will be aboard probable favorites Connect in the Grade 3, $200,000 Westchester, Sea Calisi in the Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay, and the European import Time Test in the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy. On May 5, Oaks Day, Ortiz will ride Kathryn the Wise in the Grade 3, $200,000 Vagrancy Handicap.
