OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mohaymen, a four-time Grade 2 stakes winner who has not raced since last summer, was expected to breeze Friday at the Palm Meadows training center in Florida, his first timed workout since returning to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin last week.
McLaughlin said Mohaymen breezed three times on the farm at Camden, S.C., before shipping to him.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s a 90-minute drive – on a good day – from Payson Park to Gulfstream Park. That’s a long road to travel for less than 74 seconds of work, but well worth the trip for trainer Tony Dutrow and his Kentucky Derby prospect Mo Town, who came down the turnpike to breeze here Thursday in preparation for a possible start here April 1 in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Preakness-winning trainer Keith Desormeaux has taken down a few stakes with maidens, among them the Summer Juvenile Championship at Los Alamitos with Swipe and the Landaluce at Santa Anita with Right There. He would love to pull off the feat again Saturday with Sonneteer in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel at Oaklawn.
Sonneteer will enter off a runner-up finish in a Santa Anita maiden special weight race won by Kimbear, who could be headed to the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Wayne Catalano is sitting in the catbird seat with his 3-year-olds. Not only does the 60-year-old trainer have one of the top Kentucky Oaks prospects in Farrell, but he also has Uncontested training lights-out for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
The Rebel offers 85 eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby, to be divided among its first four finishers 50-20-10-5. Uncontested was part of an 11-horse field when entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken Wednesday. He will break from post 2 under Channing Hill.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Even with the imposing presence of the red-hot Curlin’s Approval in the lineup, a field of eight fillies and mares was drawn for Saturday’s Grade 2 Inside Information.
The field includes the supplemental nominee Wheatfield, a multiple stakes winner who will ship here from Fair Grounds for the seven-furlong dash.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Weekend Hideaway, who had his best year yet in 2016 at the age of 6, is getting close to embarking on his 7-year-old campaign after working five furlongs in 1:00.53 here Wednesday under regular exercise rider Lisa Bartkowski.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – He’s not even in the top 10 in the standings for the Gulfstream championship meeting, but ask local horseplayers who the hottest trainer on the grounds has been of late, and most will likely answer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Sunland Park officials anticipate drawing 3-year-olds from California, Florida, and the Midwest for the New Mexico track’s richest Thoroughbred offerings, the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby and the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The races will anchor a card of seven stakes on March 26.
There were 458 nominations, which were free, for the 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby in February, and this week the track had a working list of 13 probables. Entries will be taken next Wednesday, said Dustin Dix, director of racing operations for Sunland. The maximum gate is 12.
Katie Davis, who went down in a nasty-looking spill at Laurel Park last Saturday, was too sore to ride the next day but was not badly injured, according to her agent, the former rider Joe Rocco.
“All of the X-rays came back negative,” said Rocco, a winner of 3,732 races between 1978 and 2013. “She should be back riding Friday.”
Rocco also represents 10-pound apprentice Sarah Shaffer, who last Sunday rode for the first time since breaking ribs and her collarbone in a Nov. 11 spill. Shaffer needs one more win to trigger the beginning of her one-year apprenticeship.
There is a lot going on at Laurel Park on Saturday. The track has five stakes, a luncheon for all current owners and breeders, and a Fantasy Owners Day schedule of events for those wanting to learn more about racehorse ownership.
The Fantasy Owners agenda, sponsored by the Maryland Jockey Club, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, has drawn more interest than originally anticipated, according to Sal Sinatra, president of the Maryland Jockey Club.
