OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clothes Fall Off, a 4 1/4-length winner of last Saturday’s Correction Stakes, will make her next start in either the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland on April 8 or the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff at Aqueduct on April 9, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Monday.
Both races are at seven furlongs, a distance at which McLaughlin feels Clothes Fall Off can be effective.
“I think seven-eighths should be excellent for her if we get pace,” McLaughlin said from Florida.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice said goodbye to one of her stable stalwarts Sunday after Kid Cruz was injured during Aqueduct’s third race and was subsequently retired from racing.
Kid Cruz bowed a tendon in his left foreleg. He was pulled up in the stretch of a $40,000 claiming race and was vanned off. The breeder of Kid Cruz, Machmer Hall Farm in Kentucky, agreed to take the horse. He will be gelded and likely trained for a second career as a riding or show horse.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With temperatures still in the mid- to upper 30s early Monday, it certainly didn’t feel much like spring despite the proclamation that the new season officially began at 6:29 a.m.
One could excuse trainer Linda Rice if she wanted to hold on to winter a tad longer. Rice has enjoyed a pretty solid first 78 days of 2017. Her 34 wins rank eighth nationally, while her $1.5 million in purse earnings rank 10th.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Owner and breeder Happy Alter said that Grade 2 stakes winner Curlin’s Approval came out of her fifth-place finish as the odds-on favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2 Inside Information in good order, although he’s now scrapped plans to bring her back on the Kentucky Oaks undercard in the Grade 1 La Troienne.
Classic Empire, the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male of last year, refused to break off for an apparent workout Sunday at Palm Meadows, and as of Monday he has worked just once, on March 12, since his third-place finish in the Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 4. His next intended start, the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 8, is now just 19 days away.
Calls placed by Daily Racing Form on Sunday and Monday to trainer Mark Casse and his son and assistant, Norman, had not been returned as of noon Eastern on Monday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The prospective field for the $1 million Florida Derby got a little more interesting Sunday when trainer Dale Romans said he’s not ruled out running Gotham Stakes winner J Boys Echo in the important Kentucky Derby prep here April 1.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – R Angel Katelyn, a three-time stakes winner, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Sunday as she gears up for her role as the probable favorite in the $100,000 Sophomore Fillies Stakes on Florida Cup Day at Tampa Bay Downs.
A full field of 12 3-year-olds seeking a spot in the Kentucky Derby is expected Saturday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., where the Grade 3, $500,000 Spiral Stakes will be run for the 46th time.
Kitten’s Cat, a Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred, could be favored in the 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race after having competed exclusively in turf races. Another turf horse, Parlor, also could be among the favorites. He is exiting an impressive allowance victory at Tampa Bay Downs.
Purses for most overnight races at the Keeneland spring meet in Lexington, Ky., have increased substantially, thanks primarily to the influx of new revenue from Instant Racing machines that became operational last year at Keeneland’s partner track, The Red Mile.
Maiden special weight races for 3-year-olds are now worth $70,000, an increase of some 17 percent from previous levels. Maiden races for 2-year-olds are up to $60,000 from $50,000. Purses for the four allowance races in the condition book for opening day range from $72,000 to $76,000.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Todd Pletcher could be going for a stakes triple for 3-year-olds next month at Oaklawn Park. He said Sunday that Malagacy is a candidate for the track’s Arkansas Derby after winning the Rebel here Saturday.
The Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel was the second of Oaklawn’s three graded preps for the Kentucky Derby that Pletcher has won this meet, starting off with the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest in February with One Liner. The Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby will be run April 15.
