ARCADIA, Calif.-The champion Songbird will spend the summer and early fall racing on the road.
A day after Songbird extended her unbeaten streak to eight races in the $200,000 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said three Grade 1 races at Saratoga in July and August and Parx Racing in Pennsylvania in September are goals for the California-based filly.
CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome continued to make steady progress toward a comeback next month with a six-furlong workout in 1:12.20 at Los Alamitos early Saturday.
What California Chrome did in the half-minute following the workout left trainer Art Sherman encouraged by the 5-year-old’s development. California Chrome galloped out in an aggressive style for another quarter-mile.
“Look how he stretches out,” Sherman said, watching California Chrome after the workout.
Trainer Bret Calhoun said he is considering the Grade 3, $500,000 Dwyer Stakes on July 9 at Belmont Park for Fish Trappe Road, most recently second at 25-1 behind another Churchill Downs-based colt, Tom’s Ready, in the Woody Stephens Stakes last weekend. Fish Trappe Road, a gray New York-bred colt, would be stretching out from back-to-back seven-furlong races to a one-turn mile in the Dwyer.
Tom’s Ready, trained by Dallas Stewart, has the Grade 1 King’s Bishop on the Travers undercard as his next main objective.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Private Zone likely will make his seasonal debut in the Grade 3, $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship on July 9, according to Rene Douglas, managing partner for owner Good Friends Stable.
Private Zone won the Belmont Sprint Championship last July.
Private Zone, a three-time Grade 1 winner, was not permitted to run in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont on June 10 after Brian Lynch, his trainer of record at entry time, surrendered his license to the New York State Gaming Commission after testing positive for marijuana.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Touchofstarquality, a third-level allowance winner here May 21, is being pointed to the $100,000 State Dinner Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on July 4, trainer Michelle Nevin said Friday.
Touchofstarquality came off an eight-month layoff to win his race by 2 1/4 lengths, beating Shaman Ghost, who finished third and came back to win last weekend’s Grade 2 Brooklyn.
Nevin said she and owner Samantha Siegel chose the State Dinner over a race like the Grade 2 Suburban on July 9 because “we just want to get there bit by bit.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Rachel’s Valentina, sixth as the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, will make her next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park on July 2, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Friday.
Though she would have had five weeks between the Kentucky Oaks and the Grade 1 Acorn – run last Saturday on the Belmont Stakes undercard – Pletcher felt that even more time would be beneficial for the daughter of Bernardini and Rachel Alexandra. Rachel Alexandra won the 2009 Mother Goose by 19 1/4 lengths.
Melatonin and Hard Aces, the first two finishers of the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap, are among eight projected starters for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita next Saturday.
The race is expected to be comprised of California-based runners, including Bal a Bali, Follow Me Crev, Imperative, Lieutenant Colonel, Second Summer, and Win the Space.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dean Reeves has already achieved one of Thoroughbred racing’s most coveted goals, winning the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Mucho Macho Man. Now, he’s gotten in on the ground floor hoping to achieve another – winning the inaugural edition of the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park next January.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist had his first major exercise in nearly a month on Friday, working a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Santa Anita.
Nyquist has not raced since finishing third in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21. He missed the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 11 after being diagnosed with a high white blood cell count in the days after the Preakness.
