Gulfstream Park track record holder Clearly Now will see local action again soon. Trainer Ron Faucheux said Clearly Now is being pointed to the Grade 3, $250,000 Smile Sprint on July 1.
Faucheux said Clearly Now is back at Gulfstream following last weekend’s Grade 2 Churchill Downs. Clearly Now had his fair share of trouble in the race and finished sixth, three lengths behind winner Limousine Liberal.
Trainer Blaine Wright said Alliford Bay came out of her impressive win in the Seattle Stakes last Sunday in good shape, but he wasn’t sure where she would make her next start.
“We are going to check out our options with her,” he said. “She could run here, or we might take her back to Golden Gate. Hastings also has races for her. We’ll give her some time to come out of it and go from there.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Ian Wilkes said Wednesday that the puncture wound sustained by McCraken in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday is healing quickly and that he anticipates the colt returning to training at Churchill Downs in the near future.
“We’re keeping it clean and treating it with antibiotic cream,” said Wilkes. “It’s healing up real nice.”
McCraken finished eighth as the 6-1 fourth choice after being squeezed badly at the break, which is where he incurred the injury to his left hind ankle when he and Classic Empire made contact.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gun Runner had his first official breeze since returning from Dubai, going an easy half-mile in 51 seconds on Monday at Churchill Downs.
Second to Arrogate in the March 25 Dubai World Cup, Gun Runner is being pointed to the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap here June 17.
“He’s still Gun Runner,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “We’ll look to work him every week or so up to the race. We’ve got some leeway in there in case we need it. So far, though, he’s doing just great.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Daddys Lil Darling, the runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks last Friday at Churchill Downs for the Normandy Farm of Nancy Polk, could make her next start in the Group 1 Investec Oaks on June 2 at Epsom Downs in England, trainer Ken McPeek said Wednesday from Keeneland.
McPeek said the final decision on whether to ship to Epsom Downs for the 1 1/2-mile turf race still has to be made by Polk, “but I’d like to give this a try.”
“It’s outside the box, I know, but I’m fine with that,” he said.
STICKNEY, Ill. – No one is turning cartwheels, but at least Hawthorne Race Course’s betting handle held the line – and even improved a touch in some areas – during its winter-spring 2017 meet that concluded April 29.
Hawthorne ran 185 races over 22 programs during a 22-day meet that began March 11. The races averaged 7.18 starters, and Hawthorne averaged $1,352,373 in all-sources daily handle for a gross handle of $29,747,806.
Trainer Jimmy Toner will equip the Grade 1 winner Time and Motion with blinkers for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park.
Time and Motion went 5 for 7 last year, but in her season debut this year, she finished sixth, beaten three lengths by Dickinson, in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.
Zhukova, a Group 3-winning mare in Europe, will take on the boys in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.
Zhukova, a 5-year-old mare trained by Dermot Weld, arrived in New York on May 4 and has been cantering over Belmont Park’s main track since Sunday.
Caroline Cashman, a groom who traveled here with Zhukova, said Weld “loves running horses over here.”
“He would like a crack at a Grade 1, and it’s a nice, big, galloping track, which she likes,” Cashman said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he didn’t win the Kentucky Derby, finishing fifth with Practical Joke, trainer Chad Brown had a pretty spectacular weekend, winning four graded stakes and finishing second in two others.
On Saturday at Churchill Downs, Brown won the Grade 1 Humana Distaff with Paulassilverlining and the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile with Roca Rojo. He finished second in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic with Beach Patrol.
The Preakness meet at Pimlico begins Thursday, but don’t blink, or you might miss it.
The season has been trimmed to 12 dates this year.
In 2015, Pimlico raced 37 days. The meet was tightened to 28 programs in 2016. The lost dates have been transferred to suburban Laurel Park, where The Stronach Group, the owner of both tracks, has made major capital improvements over the past several years.
