OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unified came out of his neck defeat to Green Gratto in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter in good order and is under consideration for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Wednesday.
Jerkens said he was worried about Green Gratto’s presence in the Carter because of the early speed he possesses.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Kimmel has been considering running Bar of Gold on turf since last summer. On Saturday, the turf experiment commences with Bar of Gold running in the $100,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes, scheduled for one mile over Aqueduct’s turf course.
Bar of Gold, a multiple New York-bred stakes winner on dirt, is a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro and out of the Grade 3 turf-stakes winner Khancord Kid. Bar of Gold is 5 for 16, with all five of her wins coming over wet tracks, including an 18-length romp in last October’s Empire Distaff at Belmont.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Iliad, fifth as the 3-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last Saturday, will be considered for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Wednesday that he does not think Iliad will have sufficient qualifying points to gain one of the 20 berths in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6. As of last weekend’s leading prep races, Iliad had 20 qualifying points and ranked 24th among candidates.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Casse won the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes last year with one superstar turf mare – and he’ll be trying to deny another one Saturday.
Casse won the 2016 Jenny Wiley with Tepin and now will send out Catch a Glimpse to try to upset Lady Eli, who figures as an odds-on favorite in the 29th running of the $350,000 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.
A year ago this Saturday, apprentice rider Ashley Castrenze won at Tampa Bay Downs with her first mount. On Friday, in the seventh race at Laurel Park, she will restart her career following a six-month injury-related layoff.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The fierce college rivalry between the Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats has made its way into Thoroughbred nomenclature.
In a tongue-in-cheek takeoff borrowing from the Repole Stable star Notacatbutallama, 22-year-old trainer Liam Benson has given one of his unraced 2-year-olds this name: Notacatbutacard.
“I always loved that New York-bred Notacatbutallama, and it’s a great dig at UK, too,” said Benson, a graduate of the equine business program at Louisville.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Lynn Whiting, who 25 years ago this May celebrated the pinnacle of a lifetime in racing by winning the 1992 Kentucky Derby with 17-1 shot Lil E. Tee, is undergoing physical therapy after spending six weeks in a Louisville, Ky., hospital following a stroke and hopes to be back working at his Churchill Downs barn within a week or so.
Whiting, 77, said by phone Wednesday with his typical wry humor that he is “getting along all right,” but, “I don’t have any blue ribbons hanging off me just yet. I kind of lost my edge for a little bit there.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Champion and highweight Stellar Wind drew post 3 in a field of six fillies and mares for the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap, to be run Friday at Oaklawn. Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken Tuesday.
The Apple Blossom is part of the Racing Festival of the South, a series of seven stakes worth a total of $3.45 million run over the final three dates of the meet, which closes Saturday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Midnight Storm, the runner-up in last month’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, will target the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday. Trainer Phil D’Amato said the horse emerged from a work last Friday in excellent condition and was scheduled to fly from Southern California to Arkansas on Tuesday.
“He just hasn’t missed a beat,” D’Amato said Monday. “He’s training so well right now. He’s just full of himself. It’s all systems go, is basically what he’s telling me, so we’re going to head on out.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Blinkers off worked well for Irap last weekend in the Blue Grass Stakes, and his trainer, Doug O’Neill, hopes the same equipment change will benefit Rockin Rudy when the promising 3-year-old runs Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
The race closes out the meet at Oaklawn Park and offers 170 eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby, to be divided among the first four finishers on a scale of 100-40-20-10.
