ELMONT, N.Y. – Disco Partner, who set a North America turf record when he ran six furlongs in 1:05.67 in winning the Grade 3 Jaipur at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes Day, will stretch out to a mile in Saturday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont.
Trainer Christophe Clement noted that Disco Partner won a seven-furlong allowance race at Belmont last fall and said this is a good time to see if he can go a little farther.
A field of 11 was entered Wednesday for Saturday night’s Grade 3, $500,000 Indiana Derby, and while none of the likely participants has won more than twice, what keeps the richest race of the marathon Indiana Grand meeting from being a half-million-dollar second-level allowance is the presence of Irap.
Galactica, who owns the highest Beyer Speed Figure among 2-year-olds in North America, and Patrona Margarita, a half-sister to near-millionaire Texas Chrome, are both targeting stakes races at Lone Star Park, trainer Bret Calhoun said Wednesday.
Fillies and mares will provide the majority of trainer Richard Mandella’s stakes runners at the Del Mar summer meeting. This week, Mandella has had several notable workers at Santa Anita in advance of the barn’s move to Del Mar.
Avenge, who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita last November, worked six furlongs on Wednesday in 1:15.20, although Mandella timed her in 1:14. She is a candidate for the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf Aug. 5, with the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 4 a long-term goal.
The French filly Enthrall will have her graded stakes debut in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap at Del Mar on July 23, days after arriving in the United States.
Enthrall is scheduled to arrive in California this weekend and clear quarantine by Monday, according to Kentucky-based trainer Brendan Walsh.
Owned by Rebecca Hillen, Enthrall, a Kentucky-bred by Bernardini, has won 2 of 3 starts in France, including an allowance race at a mile on turf at Chantilly on June 23. She was seventh in the Prix Finlande at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Chantilly on May 28.
Rick Porter has run two horses in the Delaware Handicap. Havre de Grace was beaten a nose at 3-5 during her 2011 Horse of the Year season, and Jostle finished fourth at 4-5 in 2001.
Havre de Grace’s loss was especially difficult for Porter as it came at the hands of Blind Luck in the sixth and final meeting between the two fillies. Blind Luck moved up outside Havre de Grace in upper stretch and the pair battled eyeball to eyeball the final furlong in one of the all-time great editions of the Delaware Handicap.
Bh Lisas Boy, the dominant older Quarter Horse in California this year, has been sidelined with a knee injury that jeopardizes his chance of starting in the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 16.
Bh Lisas Boy won his fifth consecutive race in the $162,600 Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos on July 2. The injury was detected in the days after the race. The 5-year-old gelding underwent surgery to have a bone chip removed from a knee last Friday, according to owner and trainer Bill Hoburg.
Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pa., has banned three trainers connected to the conviction of a trainer last week on 14 federal counts related to the illegal administration of race-day medications, according to a statement released by the track.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Ignacio Correas’s two intended Arlington Million Day starters, Dona Bruja and Kasaqui, returned to Kentucky shortly after racing Saturday at Arlington, but both are scheduled to return to Arlington a few days before the Million card on Aug. 12.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Klimt, who will have his 2017 debut in Saturday’s Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby, has been largely forgotten in recent months.
A winner of his first four starts, including the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September, Klimt has not raced since finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita last November.
Since then, Klimt has switched stables, going from Bob Baffert to Art Sherman. The change occurred when owner Kaleem Shah parted ways with Baffert and sent several runners to Sherman.
