Twirling Queen, who has won her last three starts, is being pointed to the $150,000 Coronation Cup at Saratoga, according to her trainer, Jose D’Angelo.
The 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies is July 12.
Twirling Queen won at the distance in her last start, when making her turf debut in the Mamzelle Stakes on May 11 at Churchill Downs.
Prior to that race, she won the off-the-turf Melody of Colors at five furlongs and an allowance, both over Tapeta at Gulfstream Park.
A freshened Grand Mo the First could be bound for the Grade 3, $200,000 Dwyer at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet next month if trainer Victor Barboza Jr. likes what he sees from the horse in his works over the next several weeks.
The one-mile race for 3-year-olds is July 6.
Grand Mo the First last raced in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 18th after running third in a pair of preps, the Tampa Bay Derby and Florida Derby.
“He came back to my barn three weeks ago,” Barboza said. “I think he’ll be ready for a race in July. I think the Dwyer is possible.”
ALBANY, Calif. – Since the early 1990s, well before he attended kindergarten, Dr. Luis Soto would make frequent trips to racetracks in the Bay Area with his father.
“I think the first time I went to the racetrack, I was 3,” Soto said on a recent Saturday.
The Sotos often visited Bay Meadows, in San Mateo, not far from their home. When Bay Meadows closed in 2008, the Sotos stayed with the sport, making excursions across the bridge to Golden Gate Fields, closer to Oakland. A table in the clubhouse on Breeders’ Cup Saturday was an annual event.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ways and Means returned to Saratoga, and returned to the winner's circle, with an 8 1/4-length allowance win that will give trainer Chad Brown decisions to make with the Klaravich Stables colorbearer.
One galloped, while the other had a fast workout.
The highly-regarded 3-year-olds Eagles Flight, the well-bred recent maiden race winner, and Endlessly, a two-time stakes winner earlier this year, were in action at Santa Anita on Thursday morning in advance of summer campaigns.
Eagles Flight, a half-brother to 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, was given a gallop. Eagles Flight was the easy winner of a maiden race at six furlongs by 2 3/4 lengths at Santa Anita on May 27 in his debut.
Jockey Armando Ayuso, who has won 20 races at Santa Anita since Dec. 26, will serve two suspensions from Friday through June 16, the final seven days of racing at the current Santa Anita spring meeting, for causing interference in recent races.
Ayuso, 30, was cited for his ride on Worth Looking in the second race on May 27, and aboard Hey Demps in the eighth race on May 31. Hey Demps finished second and was demoted to seventh. Worth Looking was not disqualified.
Jack Steiner, who operated one of the most high-percentage stables in California in the last five years, recently left training. He said he plans to take an extended break.
Steiner, 58, relocated from Golden Gate Fields to Santa Anita earlier this year, and had his last runner on May 27 at Santa Anita before dispersing his small stable.
In an interview on Thursday, Steiner said he does not know if he will return.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Overcast skies and occasional light drizzle greeted the 10 prospective Belmont Stakes starters Thursday morning at Saratoga, all of whom put in routine gallops, the majority, as usual, taking place over the Oklahoma training track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Before there was MyRacehorse, there was Centennial Farms.
Among the pioneers in Thoroughbred partnerships, Centennial Farms has been in operation more than four decades and campaigned such notable horses as champion sprinter Rubiano, Belmont Stakes winner Colonial Affair, Breeders’ Cup winner Corinthian, and graded stakes winners Wicked Strong, King Cugat, Unified, and Preservationist.
Just as the 4-year-old filly Gadding seems to have found her purpose on the Golden Gate Fields turf course, the track will close permanently on Sunday.
Gadding won her grass debut, and first start of 2024, in a maiden race at a mile on turf on May 10, closing from fourth in an 8-1 upset. Gadding, who races for owner and breeder Philip Paine, takes a jump in class when she faces winners for the first time in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf on Friday.
This is likely to be her last start on turf in the near future.
