HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Blue Tone, winner of the Grade 3 San Gabriel last month at Santa Anita, arrived Tuesday at Oaklawn for an intended start in the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Handicap on Monday, trainer Bob Hess Jr. said. Hess said Jose Ortiz will ride Blue Tone.
The Razorback also is expected to draw Gun Runner, winner of the Grade 1 Clark Handicap; Shotgun Kowboy, Goats Town, Hawaakom, and Mishegas. Possible starters include Dazzling Gem, Smack Smack, and Taketothestreets.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has a pair of 3-year-olds targeting the Southwest in Warrior’s Club and Dilettante. Warrior’s Club won the Spendthrift Farm Stallion Stakes in October at Churchill Downs, while Dilettante popped a Beyer Speed Figure of 88 for a recent maiden special weight route win at Oaklawn.
Warrior’s Club enters the Southwest off a fourth-place finish in the $150,000 Smarty Jones on Jan. 16 at Oaklawn. He was racing on a wet track for the first time.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Ron Moquett has come up with a quality 3-year-old each of the last two meets at Oaklawn, and it appears he has another such runner in Petrov. Petrov goes Monday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes, a race Moquett won in 2015 with Far Right and finished second in last year with Whitmore.
Petrov is a son of Flatter who has made three starts, winning his debut at Churchill Downs, then running second in both the King’s Swan at Aqueduct and the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn in his most recent start Jan. 16.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – King Kranz won the Lost in the Fog Stakes for trainer John Terranova in 2016, and Caledonian won the Lost in the Fog for him this year. King Kranz makes his next start in an allowance race Friday at Aqueduct. Caledonian is expected to make his next start in Monday’s $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes here.
Caledonian was entered in the Gander Stakes around two turns on Jan. 28, but he was scratched due to a hind-end muscle pull. But Caledonian returned to the work tab Sunday, breezing a half-mile in 49.95 seconds, and galloped well Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Paulassilverlining, an Eclipse Award finalist in the female sprint division, was back on the work tab Wednesday morning, but it remains to be seen when she will return to the races.
Paulassilverlining breezed a half-mile in 49.10 seconds over the Belmont Park training track Wednesday, just her third breeze since her victory in the Garland of Roses Stakes on Dec. 10 at Aqueduct. At one point, trainer Michelle Nevin was considering pointing Paulassilverlining to Saturday’s Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel, but opted to back off her instead.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hoping to get at least one more victory on her résumé before perhaps being retired, Hot City Girl drops back in with New York-breds when she heads a field of eight entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $100,000 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct.
At this time last year, Hot City Girl was competing against open company. Following a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 La Brea in December 2015, Hot City Girl ran in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel last February, finishing sixth of seven.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Among the paddock schoolers at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday was Huracan Americo, a Group 1 winner in his native Chile at 2 who is currently being pointed toward a possible start in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 4.
Wild Shot, beaten 3 1/2 lengths when fourth behind McCraken last weekend in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, will return to Tampa Bay Downs for the March 11 Tampa Bay Derby “unless I see no reason not to go,” said trainer Rusty Arnold.
Like McCraken, Wild Shot was making his first start since the Nov. 26 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. A son of Trappe Shot, Wild Shot is based at Payson Park.
Vicki Oliver was all set to finish off a nice 3-year-old season with Mines and Magic when the filly came down with pneumonia, of all things.
“It is unusual for a Thoroughbred to get pneumonia,” Oliver said. “It was a pretty bizarre thing.”
Mines and Magic won the $100,000 Dogwood on Sept. 24 at Churchill Downs as the favorite and was scheduled to run back in the Raven Run at Keeneland.
“Obviously, we had to stop on her a couple of months and miss the Keeneland race,” Oliver said.
