LEXINGTON, Ky. - Rush hour came late Sunday morning at Keeneland, as a multitude of turf stars worked for upcoming stakes engagements at the Kentucky track. The activity on the lawn was led by the star racemares Lady Eli, Time and Motion, and Catch a Glimpse, all targeting the Grade 1, $350,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes this coming Saturday.
Classic Empire and Petrov, who are among the leading contenders for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 15, both put in final works for the race Saturday. They are part of an anticipated field of 10 or 11 for the 1 1/8-mile race that closes out the meet at Oaklawn.
Entries will be taken Wednesday. The Arkansas Derby carries 170 eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby, to be awarded to the first four finishers on a scale of 100-40-20-10.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The fields for the seven stakes races making up the $3.45 million Racing Festival of the South, which runs Thursday through Saturday at Oaklawn, are taking shape, with a large group of 3-year-olds anticipated for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
“It’s looking like 10 or 11,” Pat Pope, racing secretary at Oaklawn, said Friday. “That’s what we know of.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stallwalkin’ Dude, sixth behind Mind Your Biscuits in the Dubai Golden Shaheen last month at Meydan, has resumed galloping and likely will resurface early in the Belmont Park spring-summer meet, trainer and co-owner David Jacobson said.
Stallwalkin’ Dude could run in the Diablo Stakes – he finished fifth behind Joking in that race last year – on May 7 or wait for the Grade 2, $250,000 True North on June 9.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Joking, the Grade 1-winning sprinter who got sick after shipping west last fall, forcing him to scratch from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, has returned to the East Coast, but not yet the racetrack.
Joking, an 8-year-old gelding by Distorted Humor, has been turned out at Patty Hogan’s farm in central New Jersey, having arrived there about three weeks ago from Southern California, according to owner and trainer Charlton Baker. Joking will remain at the farm for up to three more weeks before rejoining Baker at Belmont Park.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Timeline may have earned himself a spot in the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan at Belmont Park on May 13 with an eye-catching 13 1/2-length romp in the slop Thursday at Aqueduct.
Facing winners for the first time after winning a seven-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream on March 4, Timeline stalked the pace for more than five-eighths of a mile before taking command in upper stretch and gliding away from the first-level allowance field.
The 2016 race for leading trainer at Emerald Downs came down to the last week of the meet, and with two wins on closing day, Blaine Wright edged Jeff Metz and Frank Lucarelli to capture his first title. Wright won 39 races. Lucarelli and Metz tied for second with 37.
Metz was the leading trainer the previous three years. Lucarelli led the trainer standings five times, most recently in 2012. All three are back with strong stables for the 2017 meet, which begins Saturday.
Del Mar has increased its incentive program to lure horses from out-of-state or international circuits to the track’s summer meeting from July 19 to Sept. 4.
This summer, the track will pay owners a $1,500 bonus to start horses from outside of California who have not raced in the state in the last 12 months. The bonus has been increased from $1,000 in past years.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The $1,199,286 payoff to a single ticket holder in Thursday’s pick six was the fifth-largest in Santa Anita history.
Thursday’s big prize included a scoop of the single-ticket jackpot portion of the pool, a format the track launched at the start of the winter-spring meeting Dec. 26.
According to Santa Anita publicity, the ticket was purchased for $14,400 at Sammy’s satellite wagering location in Lake Forest, Calif., about 60 miles south of Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three major stakes-winning mares – Finest City, Stellar Wind, and Vale Dori – worked at Santa Anita on Friday and could all meet in the $400,000 Beholder Mile on June 3.
Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 for the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park on April 14. Stellar Wind was second to the champion Beholder in the 2016 Vanity Mile, a race that has since been renamed the Beholder Mile. Stellar Wind has not raced since finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here last November.
