A field of just five 3-year-olds has been entered in the $100,000 William Walker Stakes, the opening-night feature of the Churchill spring meet Saturday.
Steve Asmussen, who won the inaugural Walker last year with Cinco Charlie, has a major threat for this running in Patton Proud, a last-out allowance winner at Oaklawn Park. Another contender is Sheikh of Sheikhs, the winner of the Juvenile Dirt Sprint last fall at Keeneland on Breeders’ Cup weekend.
Heitai, who used his exceptional speed to become one of the all-time richest Louisiana-breds, has been retired, according to Frank Rowell, who bred and raced the horse with his wife, Barbara. Heitai is being let down at a farm near Evangeline Downs in Louisiana and in the next month will head to the North Texas town of Sanger. He will be a riding horse for the Rowell family and could delve into barrel racing, said Frank Rowell.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Ralph Nicks is one of the new faces on the Belmont Park backstretch this spring and summer and will have a 19- to 20-horse string based here. Nicks was based here last fall, winning four races from 13 starters. The last time he had a New York string in the spring was in 2012.
“The timing is right to do that,” said Nicks, whose main base of operations is Gulfstream Park. “It gives me the opportunity to place horses where they’re the most productive.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Matt King Coal, fourth in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9, will make his next start in the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes on the undercard of the June 11 Belmont Stakes, trainer Linda Rice said Wednesday.
Rice had initially thought about pointing Matt King Coal to the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on May 21. But the Easy Goer is worth more money, gives the colt more time between races, and is run over the same track on which he won a maiden race by 5 3/4 lengths last fall.
“I’d rather not ship if I don’t have to,” Rice said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Two-thirds of New York racing’s version of the Sunshine Boys will be in action Saturday at Belmont Park, where the 7-year-olds Kharafa and King Kreesa meet in the $100,000 Elusive Quality Stakes, scheduled for seven furlongs over the Widener turf course.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Roger Attfield saw Dyna’s Recoleta win a turf allowance Sunday at Keeneland, but not from a preferred vantage point.
Attfield watched the race on television from his Toronto home while recovering from significant injuries sustained earlier this month in a training accident at Payson Park in Florida.
CYPRESS, Calif. – At this time last year, Dortmund was days away from a third-place finish behind American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby. This week, Dortmund is far from the spotlight, having returned to training at Los Alamitos in recent days after an early-spring rest.
Owned by Kaleem Shah and trained by Bob Baffert, Dortmund has not raced since winning the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar last November. He was an intended runner in major stakes at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting but was sidelined with foot problems.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Curlin Rules will have his stakes debut in Saturday’s $150,000 California Chrome Stakes at Los Alamitos, a race that could be part of a springtime revival for trainer John Sadler.
Last Sunday, Sadler won his first stakes since October with Uptown Twirl in the minor Surfside Stakes at Los Alamitos. Curlin Rules is the stable’s next stakes runner. On May 5, the opening day of the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, Sadler plans to run Elektrum and Nancy from Nairobi in the $200,000 Royal Heroine Stakes for fillies and mares on turf.
The situation for Ohio horsemen in Cincinnati looks brighter as Belterra Park launches its third season of live racing Friday.
Purses, while still considerably lower than at cross-state track Thistledown near Cleveland, are up substantially in the first condition book compared with the beginning of the 2015 meet. Belterra will race 93 days, with live action Thursdays through Sundays through Oct. 8.
Larry Jones will have 60 stalls at Delaware Park this summer. His stable will include I’m a Chatterbox, who finished second in the Doubledogdare last Friday, and Midnight On Oconee, who finished second in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds over the winter.
Jones said I’m a Chatterbox will be pointed to the Grade 1, $750,000 Delaware Handicap on July 16 and that Midnight on Oconee will be considered for the Grade 3, $300,000 Delaware Oaks on July 9.
