According to trainer Rob Gilker, Princess Katie came out of her dramatic win in the $50,000 Irish Day Stakes for 3-year-old fillies last Sunday in good shape and will make her next start in either the $50,000 Kent Stakes at Emerald on June 26 or the $50,000 Supernaturel at Hastings on July 1.
Both races are at 1 1/16 miles, and considering the way Princess Katie finished in her first attempt at a mile in the Irish Day, she figures to thrive with the added distance.
Nyquist, whose bid for a Triple Crown ended with a third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21, was scheduled to resume jogging at Pimlico on Thursday in advance of a flight to trainer Doug O’Neill’s base at Santa Anita on Sunday.
The winner of the Kentucky Derby on May 7, Nyquist was declared from the Belmont Stakes last week after he was found to have a high white blood cell count. O’Neill said on Wednesday that Nyquist has responded to treatment and will have light exercise before being flown to California.
ARCADIA, Calif. – California trainer David Hofmans has revived his stable from within this year.
In 2015, Melatonin and Home Run Kitten were a combined 1 for 8 for Hofmans, with the only win between them an optional claimer at Del Mar. This year, Melatonin has become a Grade 1 winner with a surprise victory in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap in March. Home Run Kitten won the second graded stakes of his career last month and steps up to the Grade 1 level in Saturday’s $400,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Darrell Vienna, who trained 1992 juvenile champion Gilded Time and won more than 1,200 races, retired from training earlier this spring to devote more time to his equine legal practice.
Vienna, 69, had a small stable based at Santa Anita that was disbanded in mid-April, shortly after the conclusion of the track’s winter-spring meeting. One of his former runners, Si Sage, won Sunday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes for trainer Jim Cassidy.
Vienna said last weekend that he had contemplated retirement in recent years.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Monmouth Park adds Fridays to its schedule this week. The card features the first 2-year-old races of the New Jersey season.
In race 1, seven colts and geldings will sprint 4 1/2 furlongs. The only horse to have raced in the field is Truly a Moon Shot, the likely favorite for trainer Kelly Breen.
Truly a Moon Shot, a $75,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, showed good speed in a Belmont Park maiden race in the mud May 5. He finished third to 3-5 Tale of Two, a debut runner for Mark Casse.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – The promising 3-year-old Sea Wizard is scheduled to rejoin trainer John Mazza's stable this week after injuring a foot.
In his debut, Sea Wizard finished second last October at Belmont Park to eventual Tampa Bay Derby winner and Belmont Stakes hopeful Destin. In March, he won a Gulfstream Park maiden race by three lengths.
Mazza shipped Sea Wizard to Monmouth Park from Gulfstream in late April.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – After Sharp Azteca scored a 13-1 upset in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, trainer Jorge Navarro planned to use the Grade 3 Pegasus at Monmouth Park as a prep for the track's signature event, the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Cathryn Sophia showed that she hasn't lost her edge since winning the Kentucky Oaks by working a bullet five furlongs at Monmouth Park on Wednesday.
Track clockers gave Cathryn Sophia an official workout time of 58.40 seconds. Her trainer, John Servis, timed Cathryn Sophia in 58 3/5, with a six-furlong gallop-out of 1:11 3/5. Nine horses worked five furlongs at Monmouth on Wednesday. The second-fastest time was 1:01.
Ring Weekend ran a powerful race to finish second, beaten a neck, in the Grade 2 Dixie at Pimlico on Preakness Day while making his first start in 14 months. He could race next in the Grade 2, $200,000 King Edward Stakes at Woodbine on July 2, according to trainer Graham Motion.
"This will give him plenty of time to recover from his comeback race," Motion said. "I want to keep him at a mile this year."
Miss Temple City returned from a six-month layoff in striking fashion at Keeneland, becoming the first filly or mare to win the Grade 1 Maker's 46 Mile. As an encore, she will be flown to England on Tuesday with her sights set on the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot.
