The Ohio Derby continues its rise back toward graded-stakes status Saturday with a solid field of 10 entered in the $500,000 race at Thistledown.
Heading the entries is Mo Tom, the GMB Racing-owned colt trained by Tom Amoss who exits a creditable eighth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Mo Tom, as has been the case nearly all season, found trouble in the Derby, losing momentum and ground when steadied on the far turn before coming home with decent energy.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Taris, who was held out of the $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday because of a sore foot, returned to racetrack training on Wednesday.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said Taris jogged at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old mare will be pointed for the $500,000 Ballerina Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 27. Callaghan said he had hoped to try Taris against males in the Grade 1 Triple Bend at seven furlongs until the mare missed training time this month.
ARCADIA, Calif. – For a brief time this week, Win the Space was without a jockey for Saturday’s Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita.
Trainer George Papaprodromou had a commitment from Mike Smith, but when the Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity joined the field, Smith switched allegiances. Win the Space was not without a partner for long. Papaprodromou was quickly able to gain jockey Gary Stevens.
“It worked out,” Papaprodromou said. “We’re going from one Hall of Famer to another Hall of Famer. I had Gary for a second call.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A field of 11 fillies and mares will contest Friday’s $43,000 optional-claiming feature at five furlongs on turf at Gulfstream.
Light Our Way returned from a one-year layoff for trainer Wesley Ward to win a lower-level conditioned claimer here last month, setting a lightning-fast early pace and leading throughout.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Summit of Speed became an instant hit when it was inaugurated at Calder Race Course in 2000, and for many years it has served as the richest and most attractive option on the summer stakes schedule for the elite of the nation’s sprint division.
But times have changed. While the Smile Sprint and Princess Rooney continue to maintain Grade 2 status and are designated as Win and You’re In races for the Breeders’ Cup, trainers around the country now have many other lucrative options for key players in the division.
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.
