ARCADIA, Calif. – It is one of the oldest excuses in racing, and sometimes valid – the horse did not like the racetrack. Anyone who watched Midnight Storm struggle last weekend in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap would be hard-pressed to dispute jockey Mike Smith’s post-race analysis.
Midnight Storm finished third as the odds-on favorite, after which Smith told trainer Phil D’Amato, “He didn’t handle the track that well.”
Page McKenney, who was under consideration for the Charles Town Classic, will skip that race and instead be pointed to the $100,000 Lyman Stakes at Parx Racing on April 29.
Page McKenney came out of a March 26 workout at Pimlico Race Course with a bruised heel on his right front hoof. The injury forced him to miss some training. The Pimlico track also was closed for repairs from April 10-12.
Between the injury and the track closure, he missed too much training time to be ready for the Charles Town Classic, according to trainer Mary Eppler.
The Grade 2 Charles Town Classic drew a field of eight on Wednesday, topped by Stanford, who will be seeking a repeat victory in the three-turn, 1 1/8-mile race for older horses.
Stanford, trained by Todd Pletcher, led throughout last year's $1.25 million Classic to win by two lengths. He enters Saturday’s renewal off a 3 1/4-length score in the Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Jerkens will try to stretch Secretary At War out in distance a little bit in Saturday’s $100,000 Woodhaven Stakes for 3-year-olds.
The Woodhaven, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles, drew a field of only five for the turf. Two others were entered for the main track only.
Secretary At War, a son of War Front owned and bred by Joe Allen, is coming off a maiden win going 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Park. Prior to that, he finished third in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Gulfstream after breaking from post 12.
STICKNEY, Ill. – The race disappeared from the schedule last year, but Todd Pletcher didn’t forget about the Illinois Derby.
Pletcher, always looking for spots to run his annual legion of talented early-season 3-year-olds, has been a steady participant in the Illinois Derby and has won it four times since 2001 with Distilled, Pollard’s Vision, Cowtown Cat, and Joe Vann.
For lack of purse money, the race was scrapped in 2016, but it is back on the calendar Saturday at Hawthorne – and so is Pletcher.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Shaman Ghost is all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Shaman Ghost, the Santa Anita Handicap winner, worked a fast five furlongs in 1:00.50 on Wednesday over Belmont Park’s training track. It was a full second faster than the next-fastest move at the distance. What exactly Shaman Ghost is working toward has not been decided.
Undrafted, an earner of more than $1.3 million in a 28-race career, will make his 7-year-old debut Friday in the third race, a $77,000, classified allowance scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. Joel Rosario has the call from Wesley Ward, who trains Undrafted for a partnership headed by retired NFL star Wes Welker.
Trainer Mike Maker holds a strong hand with four of the 11 older turf horses entered in the weekend feature at Keeneland, the Grade 2, $250,000 Elkhorn Stakes on Saturday.
Maker has the quartet of Taghleeb, Bigger Picture, Roman Approval, and Charming Kitten in the 32nd running of the Elkhorn, a 1 1/2-mile turf race carded as the ninth of 10 races. Taghleeb won the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28, and Bigger Picture won the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston the following day.
McCraken, one of the favorites for the 143rd Kentucky Derby, will have two more breezes prior to the May 6 race after putting in a nice bit of work Tuesday over a fast Churchill track.
With regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard, McCraken was timed in 47.80 seconds by Churchill clocker John Nichols, with gallop-out times of 1:00 and 1:13.40.
“He’s right back here at home at Churchill, where he likes it, so we’re excited for him,” said Hernandez.
