Blip n’ Th Bye, who won the $50,000 Cajun Miss in April at Evangeline Downs, is targeting a stakes at Belmont Park, according to trainer Al Stall Jr. She is being pointed for the $150,000 Jersey Girl, a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies June 10.
Blip n’ Th Bye has made one start since her 5 1/4-length win in the Cajun Miss. She ran second to Carina Mia in the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes last month at Churchill Downs.
Stall trains Blip n’ Th Bye for Beau Lane.
Mocklin subbing for McGary
Danny Keene and trainer J.R. Caldwell are debating which of the stable’s promising 2-year-old fillies will ship from their Lone Star Park base to Churchill Downs for next month’s $100,000 Debutante.
Bling On the Music, who in April sold for $95,000 to top a sale of 2-year-olds in training at Lone Star, won her debut at the track May 19. She darted to a 4 3/4-length win in a maiden special weight and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 82.
A field of only six horses was drawn for Saturday’s Parrot Key, which serves as a prep for the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap on July 2. The Parrot Key will go as the second race on the Summit of Speed Preview card, which includes eight stakes, each worth $75,000.
Grande Shores (post 4) and Requite (post 6) may vie for favoritism in the Parrot Key. The remainder of the field, from the rail out, is More Applause, Risk Factor, Yourdreamsormine and Mitos Y Leyendas.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Surgical Strike came out of his narrow win Saturday in the Grade 3 Arlington Classic in good shape and went back to training Wednesday in Kentucky, trainer Ben Colebrook said.
“Everything looks great with him,” said Colebrook, who added blinkers to help produce Surgical Strike’s first grades stakes win, which got an 86 Beyer Speed Figure. “We’ll watch the Pennine Ridge this weekend at Belmont and see what happens there, wait for the Belmont Derby invitations to come out, and it’ll be that or the American Derby at Arlington.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Larry Rivelli hit a milestone on Memorial Day weekend by winning his 1,000th race, and the horses who got him to that numeral of note are noteworthy in their own right.
At Canterbury Park on Monday, Richies Sweetheart scored an impressive 3 1/4-length win over males in the $75,000 Honor the Hero Stakes. The 5-year-old mare, returning from a freshening, earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure.
The mare’s regular rider, E.T. Baird, knew she was flying on the Canterbury grass course.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Ami’s Flatter, the dominant winner of the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland in April, has been confirmed as a starter for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 11, trainer Josie Carroll said Wednesday.
“After the Commonwealth, that’s what we targeted,” Carroll said. “We were thrilled with his performance that day and felt he earned a shot at that caliber of a race.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Observers will look at the times of the races being run on Belmont Park’s turf courses this meet and conclude that it is like running on a paved road. In actuality, there are several factors playing a role in the course producing so many fast final times.
First, the courses are being cut more frequently and are anywhere from a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch shorter than in years past.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The hillside turf course at Santa Anita will not be used after Sunday’s program for the final five weeks of the spring-summer meeting to allow the course to be replaced for the autumn meeting.
There are two races on the hillside Friday and one Saturday. Sunday’s program was scheduled to be drawn Thursday. Rick Hammerle, Santa Anita’s vice president and racing secretary, said he expects to have four races on the hillside Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Finest City faces a daunting task in Saturday’s $400,000 Vanity Mile at Santa Anita.
In her first start at a mile, Finest City runs in a Grade 1 race against two champions of 2015 – Beholder, the outstanding older female, and Stellar Wind, the outstanding 3-year-old filly.
Finest City gave trainer Ian Kruljac, 27, his first stakes win in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on April 23. Kruljac has realistic expectations for Saturday, hoping to finish in the top three for a coveted Grade 1 placing.
