LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thunder Snow is officially in, Battalion Runner and Malagacy are officially out, Lookin At Lee and Sonneteer are now in the field, Girvin took a big step toward making the race, J Boys Echo worked at Churchill Downs, and both Gormley and Royal Mo worked at Santa Anita, all part of a busy Saturday on many fronts seven days out from the Kentucky Derby on May 6.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Louisiana Derby winner Girvin, who missed a work last weekend while recovering from a quarter crack in his right front hoof, breezed five furlongs in company in 59.60 seconds Saturday at Keeneland in his final work before the Kentucky Derby.
Keeneland concluded its spring meet on Friday with relatively steady overall attendance and handle figures despite running one fewer day, and with a strong performance on the day of the track’s signature Kentucky Derby prep.
With increased average daily purses of $709,861 helping to attract fields averaging 8.6 horses, total ontrack handle for the 15-day meet was $17,668,979, down 1.7 percent from $17,974,896 during the 16-day spring meet in 2016. This year's meet was one day shorter because the track was dark on Easter Sunday, which fell outside the meet in 2016.
Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., has delayed the start of turf racing until May 24. The track had planned to begin racing on turf Friday.
In addition, the status of two turf stakes that were to have been run Friday and Saturday, the Opelousas and John Henry, will be determined by May 3. One option is to run them on dirt, but that is being discussed with horsemen, according to Chris Warren, director of racing for Evangeline.
Great Minds ran one of the best races of his career last year at Lone Star Park, and he is set to return to the Grand Prairie, Texas, track next weekend for the Grade 3, $200,000 Steve Sexton Mile. Great Minds won the race a year ago, when it was called the Texas Mile.
“We’re on schedule,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said Friday.
Entries for the Steve Sexton Mile will be taken Sunday. The race is scheduled for May 7.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Total handle at California tracks increased 2.7 percent in March but showed a sharp decline of 8.5 percent in the first three months of the year, according to figures released at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.
Handle at Thoroughbred meetings at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, the harness meeting at Cal-Expo, and the Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred meeting at Los Alamitos totaled $252.8 million in March, compared with $245.8 million in March 2016.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The anticipation of April showers on Saturday and the desire to wear May flowers resulted in a flurry of workouts at Churchill Downs on Friday in preparation for next Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, with eight prospects drilling here, and two others elsewhere, totaling half the 20-horse field that will run for the roses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The relatively untested Battle of Midway disputed the pace in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8 before relinquishing the lead in the final furlong.
Battle of Midway finished second by a half-length to Gormley and earned sufficient qualifying points to secure a berth in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs next Saturday. If Battle of Midway is a factor in the famous race, he will do so with a different running style.
For a Kentucky Derby starter, Irap has had a fluctuating status in the last five months.
Last December, Irap was a game second to the highly regarded Mastery in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, triggering Triple Crown hopes for owners Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill.
“I thought he had that kind of ability,” O’Neill said this week.
Within a few months, those hopes were fading, dimmed by a second in the Mine That Bird Derby and a fourth in the Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico in March.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Junior Alvarado will undergo surgery to repair his left shoulder and be out of action about two months, according to his agent, Mike Sellitto.
Alvarado was injured in a spill at Aqueduct on Sunday’s closing-day card. Though X-rays revealed no fractures, an MRI taken on Tuesday did show some minor damage to the shoulder. Alvarado had surgery on that same shoulder last December to repair a tear in his rotator cuff.
