ARCADIA, Calif. – Barry Abrams has relinquished his training license and is taking a break from training while dealing with throat cancer.
“I might go back to training, I might not,” Abrams, 62, told Santa Anita publicity. “I’m officially not training any horses.”
Abrams underwent surgery for throat cancer in 2005 and had a recurrence in 2011. The operations left him with limited use of his voice. Abrams said he finds it difficult to communicate with his clients, jockeys, and stable staff.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Nancy From Nairobi won her graded stakes debut in Thursday’s Grade 2, $203,105 Royal Heroine Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita. The win puts her at the top of the female turf division in Southern California, a position that can be considered tenuous at best.
Since Jan. 1, 2015, 17 females have won graded stakes around two turns on turf at Del Mar or Santa Anita. None has won such a race twice.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the 142nd Kentucky Derby upon us, overlays and underlays abound in the four Derby futures pools that were offered by Churchill Downs in preceding months.
The pools ran Nov. 26-29, Feb. 12-14, March 11-13, and April 1-3, with aggregate handle totaling $1,379,356.
The biggest overlays are in Pool 1, with Nyquist (9-1), Exaggerator (25-1), and Gun Runner (57-1). In Pool 2, Tom’s Ready was 83-1, and Whitmore was 81-1, and neither will be that high Saturday. In Pool 4, Exaggerator had yet to win the Santa Anita Derby and could be had at 27-1.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In the last few months, a quarterback went out on top after winning the Super Bowl, and a president bid farewell to media members with a mic drop.
Bob Baffert didn’t walk away after American Pharoah retired, didn’t say, “Baffert out,” following the Triple Crown. No, one year after training American Pharoah to the first Triple Crown sweep in 37 years, Baffert has taken up his familiar spot preceding the first Saturday in May, Barn 33 at Churchill Downs, where on Saturday, for the 17th time in his career, he will try to win the Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mom and Dad will be here. So will the three sisters and some of their kids and other family members – or a fair percentage of the population of Vermilion Parish, La.
“This isn’t just for me and Keith and the family,” said Kent Desormeaux, the Hall of Fame jockey who will ride Exaggerator for his older brother, trainer Keith Desormeaux, in the 142nd Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs. “It’s for Cajun pride. This is huge.”
The training charts hang on barn walls, whiteboard wiped clean and rewritten late each morning, and sit in desk drawers, written into ledger books ink-smudged or pristine. The charts record past exercise and sketch the future – the walks, jogs, gallops, and breezes that lead to races.
This is the work of every trainer with any old horse. Now imagine the horseman with handsome bluebloods coming through the pipeline each season. Just how good is the animal whose name is written on the board? How far can he run? How much can his mind absorb? How far will his body bend?
Charles Town has canceled its Friday and Saturday night race cards after wet weather compromised the resurfacing of its track.
The Charles Town meet took a break after the Charles Town Classic card on April 23, and was scheduled to reopen Friday. During the down time, Charles Town planned a semi-annual resurfacing of its track.
During the resurfacing, some rocks were found in the surface, and it was decided to sift the track material. Recent wet weather "ground that process to a halt," said Erich Zimny, the track's vice president of racing operations.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mike Repole had a big smile on his face as he greeted well-wishers and talked with reporters Wednesday morning on the Churchill Downs backstretch. It was a far cry from five years ago, when Repole was avoiding media on the backstretch before a formal press conference was held the day before the 2011 Kentucky Derby to announce the scratch of Uncle Mo, the Repole-owned morning-line favorite.
Repole has spent the better part of the last month talking about Uncle Mo, who in his first crop has sired three Kentucky Derby starters, including Repole’s own Outwork.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Though Rachel’s Valentina was born to run in the Kentucky Oaks, her connections claim it wasn’t always their plan to be in the race.
Yet seven years after Rachel Alexandra dominated the Kentucky Oaks like no one before or since, her only daughter, Rachel’s Valentina, is not only in the Oaks but is the 7-2 morning-line favorite.
There will be some new trainers stabled at Delaware Park this season, including Gerald Bennett, who will wrap up the Tampa Bay Downs training title Sunday, and Keith Nations, who will be splitting his stable between Delaware and Parx Racing.
Bennett will have about 60 stalls at Delaware. Last summer, he made the bulk of his starts at Presque Isle Downs and Monmouth Park. Bennett has not stabled at Delaware since 1998.
