ARCADIA, Calif. – In approximately two minutes on Saturday, Melatonin can show where he stands in the nation’s older horse division at the start of the summer.
Melatonin will start as a contender in Saturday’s $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita after excellent results in his last two starts. Melatonin won the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap in a 16-1 upset in March and was second in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on April 16, losing by a length to Effinex, a five-time stakes winner.
The Quiet Winter Farm of longtime New Jersey horseman J. Willard Thompson will hold a fishing derby and family day fundraiser on Monday at Bucksmill Park in Colts Neck, N.J.
The event is open to the public, and proceeds will benefit the Quiet Winter Farm Charitable Organization and Serenity Stables, which assists military veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder through the use of equine therapy.
Pimlico will conclude its meet Sunday, and Maryland racing will shift to Laurel Park next Friday. Laurel will race the remainder of the year, except for a brief break for the Timonium fair meet, which runs from Aug. 26 through Sept. 5.
Pimlico has five turf stakes scheduled for Saturday, two for Maryland-breds and three for Virginia-bred or Virginia-sired runners.
The $75,000 Maryland-bred stakes will be run at 1 1/8 miles. The Find is for 3-year-olds and up, and the All Brandy is for fillies and mares.
Always Sunshine, who has developed into one of the top sprinters in the Mid-Atlantic, came out of the Grade 2 True North at Belmont Park “super,” according to trainer Ned Allard, but did lose a front shoe during the six-furlong race.
Always Sunshine came into the True North with wins in four of his five prior starts. He raced in a good stalking position under jockey Frankie Pennington but finished evenly and crossed the wire last in the five-horse field, beaten 1 3/4 lengths.
Frankie Pennington has been a top rider at Parx Racing so long that it’s easy to forget he’s only 29 years old. He’ll begin the Saturday card at Parx on the verge of his 2,000th career win.
He started out at Thistledown in September 2003 at age 16 but by early 2004 was riding days at Philadelphia Park, now Parx, and nights at Penn National while living in the home of jockey agent Robert Martel and his wife, Dianne. Martel still represents Pennington.
“We call him our first teenager,” said Martel, who now has a 17-year-old son, Hunter, and a 13-year-old daughter, Logan.
Ellis Park opens its 30-day summer meet on July 2, meaning there is a one-day overlap in the state’s racing schedule. Ellis, as always, will race in the afternoon on that Saturday, while Churchill will host an evening card. Ellis then will race July 3 and 4, with the first stakes, the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf, set for July 9.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Steve Asmussen said this week that Gun Runner will breeze once at Churchill before he decides when to ship the colt to Saratoga to train toward his next race, the Haskell at Monmouth Park on July 31.
Gun Runner narrowly missed the track record for 1 1/16 miles when he easily defeated five other 3-year-olds Saturday night in the Matt Winn Stakes, his first race since he finished third in the Kentucky Derby on May 7. The son of Candy Ride finished in 1:41.12, just 0.08 seconds off the 2012 record set by Successful Dan.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Street Sense didn’t win first time out. Neither did Fort Larned and a bunch of other good horses Ian Wilkes has worked with.
So, when a 3-year-old filly named Open Arms won her career debut Sunday at Churchill Downs – breaking an eye-opening 88-race losing streak for first-time starters trained by Wilkes – it came as something of a surprise to most racing fans.
“She couldn’t have done it much easier,” said Wilkes. “It’s always nice when they run to how they work. She’s a very talented filly.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Amapola, who set a 4 1/2-furlong track record of 50.99 seconds in her career debut here last month, has been sold privately and is training at Saratoga, according to her former trainer, Antonio Sano.
Amapola, a 2-year-old daughter of Broken Vow, drew away to an apparent 9 3/4-length triumph to launch her career May 25. She was ultimately disqualified and placed sixth via a somewhat-controversial stewards’ decision shortly after the impressive performance, although Amapola was allowed to keep the track record.
A racehorse based at Ruidoso Downs was confirmed positive for the equine herpesvirus late Friday, but as of Monday morning, there were no new confirmed cases at the track, according to both Ruidoso president Shaun Hubbard and a representative of the New Mexico Livestock Board.
The horse confirmed positive was euthanized, and Barn 27, where the Quarter Horse resided, is under quarantine. Ruidoso is conducting a mixed meet for Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. The track raced as scheduled over the weekend and was set to race Monday.
