HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Classic Empire and McCraken have a lot in common. The two top-ranked 3-year-olds on this week’s Derby Watch list have spent the winter at the Palm Meadows training center, where they’ve both encountered minor issues that forced them to miss some training time.
Both are being pointed to the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on April 8, and both turned in important works over the weekend that had their connections smiling.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A trio of stakes horses from Florida flew into Little Rock, Ark., on Monday and arrived on the Oaklawn backstretch by midday, track spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt said. The horses all were from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher. Malagacy goes in the Rebel, while Madefromlucky is being pointed for the Essex Handicap and Eskenformoney is among the nominees for the Azeri.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There appears to be an ample amount of speed signed on for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, with such 3-year-olds as American Anthem, Malagacy, Royal Mo, and Uncontested all candidates for the 1 1/16-mile race Saturday. That sits really well with trainer Randy Morse, who will send out the promising Tapit colt Silver Dust.
“The faster they go up front, the better it is for him,” Morse said.
It was no surprise seeing Believe in Bertie racing on the lead Saturday in the Red Camelia Stakes, a two-turn turf race for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares. Believe in Bertie, after all, has been the first-call leader in eight of her 10 grass-route starts.
The 3-year-old filly Stallion Heiress is unbeaten in three starts after winning the $50,000 Allen “Black Cat” Lacombe Memorial on Saturday by 3 1/2 lengths. Stallion Heiress got an 84 Beyer Speed Figure, two points lower than in her 7 1/4-length win Feb. 11 in the Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard Memorial, but trainer Mike Stidham was pleased with Stallion Heiress’s more mature performance Saturday.
Girvin took another step toward the $1 million Louisiana Derby, to be run April 1, when he worked a half-mile in 49 seconds on Saturday at Fair Grounds. The drill was Girvin’s first officially timed exercise since he won the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 25.
Ridden by former jockey Rosie Napravnik, Girvin worked in company with Cool Arrow, who was ridden by trainer Joe Sharp, Napravnik’s spouse.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association announced Monday that Fox Sports 2 will add more broadcasts of live racing from NYRA’s three tracks this year, building on the relationship that started last summer at Saratoga.
FS2 will broadcast three shows from Aqueduct this spring and seven shows from Belmont Park in addition to 36 telecasts from Saratoga.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Spartiatis, a 7-year-old gelding, captured his first stakes victory in last Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct. Jockey Rajiv Maragh does not think it will be his last stakes win.
Spartiatis will point to the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 8, and Maragh thinks Spartiatis will have a good chance in that seven-furlong race, where he most likely will take on Unified, the winner of the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Owner Dennis Drazin and trainer Jason Servis will be sorry to see Aqueduct’s inner track close for the season after their Sunny Ridge collected his third stakes victory over that surface in Sunday’s $125,000 Stymie Stakes.
Sunny Ridge rallied five wide in the stretch under Manny Franco and outfinished 35-1 shot Doyouknowsomething to win the Stymie by three-quarters of a length. He earned a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure. The win, Sunny Ridge’s first at 1 1/8 miles, improved his career record to 5 for 13 and pushed his earnings to $833,002.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Two years after Salutos Amigos finished eighth in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan, trainer and co-owner David Jacobson is game for another try in that race with Stallwalkin’ Dude.
On Monday, Stallwalkin’ Dude completed his local preparation for the March 25 race with a three-furlong move in 39.45 seconds over Belmont Park’s training track. It was just another in a series of three-furlong moves that Jacobson gives Stallwalkin’ Dude every four days.
