ARCADIA, Calif. – Finest City, last year’s champion female sprinter, will stretch out to 1 1/8 miles on Saturday in the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Margarita Stakes, the championship race of the meet for older females.
Finest City won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint here last fall and in her only start since then captured the Grade 2 Santa Monica here on Jan. 21. Both races were at seven furlongs. The Santa Margarita will be her first start at 1 1/8 miles.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 status of the $1 million Santa Anita Derby, coupled with the defection of Mastery from the potential lineup, has caused trainer Todd Pletcher to consider the race for a couple of his Kentucky Derby prospects, he said on Wednesday.
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others. It also is the title of a Steely Dan song from the 1970s.
Confusing? Well, so is Bodhisattva, the horse. Jose Corrales has trained Bodhisattva for three years but is still trying to get a handle on him.
“He is a complicated horse,” Corrales said. “He can fool you.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Classic Empire and McCraken have a lot in common. The two top-ranked 3-year-olds on this week’s Derby Watch list have spent the winter at the Palm Meadows training center, where they’ve both encountered minor issues that forced them to miss some training time.
Both are being pointed to the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on April 8, and both turned in important works over the weekend that had their connections smiling.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A trio of stakes horses from Florida flew into Little Rock, Ark., on Monday and arrived on the Oaklawn backstretch by midday, track spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt said. The horses all were from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher. Malagacy goes in the Rebel, while Madefromlucky is being pointed for the Essex Handicap and Eskenformoney is among the nominees for the Azeri.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There appears to be an ample amount of speed signed on for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, with such 3-year-olds as American Anthem, Malagacy, Royal Mo, and Uncontested all candidates for the 1 1/16-mile race Saturday. That sits really well with trainer Randy Morse, who will send out the promising Tapit colt Silver Dust.
“The faster they go up front, the better it is for him,” Morse said.
It was no surprise seeing Believe in Bertie racing on the lead Saturday in the Red Camelia Stakes, a two-turn turf race for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares. Believe in Bertie, after all, has been the first-call leader in eight of her 10 grass-route starts.
The 3-year-old filly Stallion Heiress is unbeaten in three starts after winning the $50,000 Allen “Black Cat” Lacombe Memorial on Saturday by 3 1/2 lengths. Stallion Heiress got an 84 Beyer Speed Figure, two points lower than in her 7 1/4-length win Feb. 11 in the Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard Memorial, but trainer Mike Stidham was pleased with Stallion Heiress’s more mature performance Saturday.
Girvin took another step toward the $1 million Louisiana Derby, to be run April 1, when he worked a half-mile in 49 seconds on Saturday at Fair Grounds. The drill was Girvin’s first officially timed exercise since he won the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 25.
Ridden by former jockey Rosie Napravnik, Girvin worked in company with Cool Arrow, who was ridden by trainer Joe Sharp, Napravnik’s spouse.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association announced Monday that Fox Sports 2 will add more broadcasts of live racing from NYRA’s three tracks this year, building on the relationship that started last summer at Saratoga.
FS2 will broadcast three shows from Aqueduct this spring and seven shows from Belmont Park in addition to 36 telecasts from Saratoga.
