OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Believe it or not, the inner-track meet comes to an end next weekend, highlighted by the $100,000 Cicada Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday.
Wilburnmoney, the 20-1 upset winner of the Franklin Square Stakes for New York-breds, is expected to start in the six-furlong race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – El Areeb returned to the work tab in Maryland on Friday, and it looks like he’ll be returning to New York in three weeks for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8 at Aqueduct, according to trainer Cal Lynch.
“He’s got a couple of more works before we know for sure, but that’s the plan,” Lynch said Friday by phone from Laurel.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A large field of nine to 12 runners is expected for the Grade 2, $200,000 San Luis Rey Stakes next weekend, according to Santa Anita stakes coordinator Chris Merz.
The 1 1/2-mile turf race attracted 24 nominees, including early favorite Ashleyluvssugar, who worked five furlongs Friday in 1:01 for trainer Peter Eurton. The 6-year-old gelding, the winner of the 2015 San Luis Rey, has won nine races and $1,145,004 from 20 starts.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A working vacation at San Luis Rey Downs was so successful for Bal a Bali that trainer Richard Mandella will use the same routine for the 7-year-old, who scored his first North American Grade 1 win last weekend at Santa Anita in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile.
ARCADIA, Calif. – It was not the type of workout expected from a multiple Grade 1 winner, but trainer John Sadler was not concerned with Stellar Wind’s six-furlong workout in 1:16.40 on Friday.
“They went a little slow, pilot error,” Sadler said. “It was not exactly what I wanted, but I’m not freaking out because I have time.” Stellar Wind has three more works scheduled prior to her comeback in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park on April 14.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Two hotshot 3-year-olds compromised by minor issues in Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds last year return in a strong first-level allowance sprint Sunday. Bobby Abu Dhabi, recovered from a foot issue, and Midnight Pleasure, who had throat surgery, face Aquamarine and the California-bred stakes colts Green With Eddie and Milton Freewater in race 3 at Santa Anita.
A good trainer knows when to back off on a horse, and one of the best in the business is backing off his own schedule for a short while.
Lynn Whiting, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1992 with Lil E. Tee, said Thursday he was scheduled to be discharged from a Hot Springs hospital on Saturday after a brief stay. Whiting said his assistant will oversee his Oaklawn barn for the final month of the meet as he heads to Louisville, Ky., for a “little convalescence” until the opening of Churchill Downs on April 29.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Alex Canchari is coming off the best year of his career and has continued that momentum this winter at Oaklawn Park, where he ranked fourth in the standings through Thursday. But of his 27 winners at this meet, there is one who stands out: Dixie Lover.
Canchari, 23, won a $6,250 claiming race with the mare on the Southwest Stakes card Feb. 20, and for him, it was as if he had won that afternoon’s prep for the Arkansas Derby.
“That’s the most satisfying winner of my meet,” Canchari said. “I rode a winner for my dad.”
Lacking other appealing options, and with the prospect of a short, shallow field, trainer Bret Calhoun said Thursday that the impressive maiden winner Daria’s Angel is likely to make her next start April 1 in the Fair Grounds Oaks.
Daria’s Angel finished second in a pair of sprint maiden races late last year, made her 3-year-old debut in a two-turn maiden race, and won by eight lengths in a good time, earning an 80 Beyer Speed Figure. Calhoun had hoped to start Daria’s Angel in a first-level allowance, but the race failed to fill.
Remember Favorite Trick? He was the prototype for the advanced 2-year-old and was Horse of the Year as a juvenile in 1997, but he was unable to carry his early success into later seasons.
Newfound Gold is the anti-Favorite Trick. As a 2-year-old of 2009, Newfound Gold began his career by losing three $12,500 maiden-claiming races at Emerald Downs. Last Monday at Fair Grounds, he won his first allowance race. Newfound Gold is 10 now and was making his 57th start.
