Ben’s Cat turned in his fifth work in three weeks Thursday at Laurel Park and is nearing the first start of his 10-year-old campaign.
A winner of 30 of 53 starts and just less than $2.5 million, Ben’s Cat is being pointed to the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint on May 20 at Pimlico. He is likely to start once before that race.
Ben’s Cat has won the McKay four of the last five years, including the last three runnings. Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury is pleased with Ben’s Cat’s progress.
Force the Pass came out of his third-place finish in the Grade 3 Appleton at Gulfstream Park in good shape and will now be pointed to the Grade 3 Fort Marcy on Kentucky Derby Day at Belmont Park, according to Alan Goldberg, who trains the 4-year-old son of Speightstown for the Colts Neck Stable of Richard Santulli. Force the Pass was making his first start in almost seven months in the Appleton.
“He’s doing fine,” Goldberg said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s 61st season of Thoroughbred racing begins with Saturday’s opening-day card, which features the first races run on Woodbine’s new Tapeta main track.
Woodbine removed its Polytrack surface at the conclusion of the 2015 meet and replaced it with more than 10,000 tons of Tapeta, a process overseen by Woodbine’s director of Thoroughbred surfaces, Irwin Driedger. Woodbine opened the Tapeta track for training March 18, and so far, it has been well received.
AUBURN, Wash. - New to Emerald Downs this year is track superintendent Steve Breckling, an Arkansas native who spent nine years as the track super at Oaklawn Park. Breckling, 56, replaces Wayne Damron, who is stepping into a less-demanding role to spend more time with his family.
Job 1 for Breckling is getting familiar with a surface that tends to run from fast to lightning-fast. Emerald Downs is home to two North American speed records: 1:00.87 for 5 1/2 furlongs, set by Hollywood Harbor in 2012, and 1:12.94 for 6 1/2 furlongs, set by I Keep Saying in 2014.
AUBURN, Wash. – Among the myriad betting opportunities offered by Emerald Downs, which opens its 2016 meeting Saturday, horseplayers surely will be attracted to the newest one: a pick seven with a minimum 20-cent wager and a relatively low takeout of 16.1 percent.
The pick seven will be offered on the final seven races each day. If there are no tickets with seven winners, 80 percent of the pool will carry over to the next card. The remaining 20 percent will go into a consolation pool and be paid to ticket holders with the most winners.
As often happens at Keeneland, there are terrific races besides the graded stakes on opening weekend. The Saturday undercard is particularly rich, with Limousine Liberal among those with stakes experience dipping into the allowance ranks.
Limousine Liberal finished second in the King’s Bishop and Gallant Bob last fall and shows a recent series of bullet works at Keeneland for trainer Ben Colebrook. The 4-year-old Limousine Liberal will be ridden by Luis Saez when making his return in the second race at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Rosario not ready yet
The big name for the second weekend of racing at Keeneland is Tepin, the Eclipse Award-winning turf mare who will be a big favorite in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes on April 16. Trainer Mark Casse contemplated a start against males in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 15 but said there was “no major compelling reason to jump outside the box at this time.”
Cathryn Sophia will be favored Saturday over Rachel’s Valentina and Carina Mia in an eagerly anticipated renewal of the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland partly because of this: She already has raced twice this year, while both of her chief rivals will be making their first starts following significant layoffs.
Trainer Mark Casse has a handful of quality 3-year-olds who wintered at Oaklawn, and with the meet to wrap soon, Siding Spring and Conquest Windycity are heading in different directions.
Casse said Siding Spring, fifth in the Grade 3 Southwest in February at Oaklawn, is now based at Keeneland. He said plans call for a return to turf for the horse, who last year won his debut at Kentucky Downs and proceeded to run third in the Grade 3 Bourbon at Keeneland.
