LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A pair of Belmont Stakes contenders, J Boys Echo and Multiplier, were sent through final prerace works for the 1 1/2-mile classic just minutes apart Saturday morning at their respective Kentucky bases.
J Boys Echo went five furlongs in a minute flat at Churchill Downs shortly after Multiplier went a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Keeneland. Both came amid perfect spring weather and over fast racetracks.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Ricardo Santana Jr., who enjoyed a successful meet at Saratoga last summer, will be moving his tack to New York permanently beginning Thursday. He will be represented by Steve Rushing, who also represents Irad Ortiz Jr.
Santana was the leading rider at the Oaklawn Park meet this year with 80 winners and through Thursday was tied for fifth in the Churchill Downs standings with 14 winners.
Last summer, his first at Saratoga, Santana won 14 races from 192 mounts.
ELMONT, N.Y. – High Ridge Road beat By the Moon by a neck in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel in February. The two are expected to square off again in Friday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Bed O’ Roses Invitational at Belmont Park.
Since the Barbara Fritchie, High Ridge Road has finished seventh in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland and third in the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont on May 13. By the Moon, meanwhile, came off a nearly three-month layoff to win the Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap on May 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Time and Motion will scratch from Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth and instead will start in next Friday’s Grade 2, $500,000 New York Stakes at Belmont Park, trainer Jimmy Toner said Friday.
Toner said he thought Time and Motion would be compromised by breaking from post 13 in a field of 14 entered in the Eatontown. Toner said the outside post and running back just three weeks after a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 13 made the Eatontown less attractive than the New York.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Vinnie Viola already have one of the top 3-year-old males in the country in Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming. They also have one of the top 3-year-old fillies in training in Sweet Loretta, and she seems to be getting better all the time.
ARCADIA, Calif. – S Y Sky, the winner of the $200,000 Melair Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies last Monday, is likely to stay in the statebred division this summer.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said S Y Sky will be pointed to the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for Cal-bred 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Del Mar on July 30, with a possible start in between.
“We could possibly wait for the Fleet Treat,” he said. “I’m going to play it by ear. She came out of the race in good order. I don’t think it took too much out of it her.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The $75,000 Santa Lucia Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday has become the consolation for Saturday’s Grade 1 Beholder Mile.
Faithfully and Show Stealer were entered in the $400,000 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares but will run Sunday in the Santa Lucia, according to trainers Bob Baffert and Art Sherman. The Santa Lucia is run at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares who have not won a stakes worth $25,000 or more to the winner since Sept. 15.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – When Roger Attfield last won the Queen’s Plate in 2008 with Not Bourbon, he matched Harry Giddings Jr.’s record for Queen’s Plate wins by a trainer with eight. Attfield has had seven Queen’s Plate starters since then, including a pair of favorites in Check Your Soul and Danish Dynaformer, who ran second to Shaman Ghost in 2015.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Three weeks after finishing first and second, a half-length apart, in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint, Whitmore and A. P. Indian could meet again June 9 in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont Park.
Whitmore’s trainer, Ron Moquett, and A. P. Indian’s trainer, Arnaud Delacour, both said on Thursday they may bring back their speedsters on relatively short rest in the six-furlong True North.
Owner Ron Paolucci suffered a major blow when Charles Town Classic winner Imperative incurred an injury this week that will keep him out of next Saturday’s Grade 1 Met Mile. But that setback is not going to keep the enigmatic Paolucci from seeking a slot, should one come available, for the 2018 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January.
