ARCADIA, Calif. - Songbird, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, jogged at Santa Anita on Sunday, her first day of racetrack exercise after being knocked out of Friday’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs with a fever last month.
Songbird will jog for a week before her training intensifies through May. Songbird won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 9 in her most recent start.
“She looked like she was happy to get out there,” Hollendorfer said.
CYPRESS, Calif. - The result of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs next weekend will play a key role in whether Uncle Lino progresses to the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21 following his win in Saturday’s $151,035 California Chrome Stakes at Los Alamitos.
Trainer Gary Sherlock said on Sunday that he wants to assess Uncle Lino’s condition in coming days and analyze the outcome of the Kentucky Derby before finalizing plans.
“He’s acting okay,” Sherlock said. “We have the extra week and we’ll watch the Derby and see what happens there.
“I have no plan B.”
Going a little quicker than expected, Danzing Candy worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at the San Luis Rey Downs training Center in Bonsall, Calif., on Saturday, the colt’s final major exercise before the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7.
Trainer Clifford Sise said he expected a workout time closer to 1:01, but Danzing Candy showed enthusiasm. Danzing Candy galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.60, Sise said.
“He’s as good as he can be,” Sise said. “He’s probably doing better than he’s ever done.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Exaggerator, the Santa Anita Derby winner, on Saturday at Churchill Downs turned in his final work for the Kentucky Derby seven days hence, one of five potential Derby runners who worked at two different locales.
Exaggerator and Brody’s Cause, the Blue Grass Stakes winner, worked at Churchill Downs, as did Dazzling Gem and Cherry Wine, both of whom currently have insufficient points to make the 20-horse Derby field.
After winning an $8,000 maiden-claiming race with Jima last Sunday, 92-year-old trainer Don Munger said he has no plans to slow down. Munger is the oldest trainer to win a race at Emerald Downs. Noble Threewitt is recognized as the oldest trainer to win a race in North America. He was 95 when Three at Once won a maiden-claiming race at Santa Anita in 2006. Florida-based trainer Jerry Bozzo, who turned 95 last October, is still active and will take over the honor if he wins a race before he retires.
Trainer David Martinez is happy with the way My Heart Goes On is training leading up to the $50,000 Seattle Stakes at Emerald Downs next Sunday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies is the first added-money event at the meet.
My Heart Goes On was voted the champion 2-year-old filly in Washington last year. She won the Angie C. Stakes, but her best performance was probably her race with the boys when she was the runner-up going 1 1/16 miles in the Joe Gottstein Futurity.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Joe Bravo, Javier Castellano, Aaron Gryder, Mario Pino, and Cornelio Velasquez are the five nominees for this year’s Mike Venezia Award, created in 1989 by the New York Racing Association to honor the jockey who displays extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship. It is named after the jockey who died from injuries he suffered in a spill in 1988.
The award is voted on by the fans, who may cast their votes here from now until midnight May 16.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Frosted, fifth in the Dubai World Cup in March, likely will return to the work tab next week at Saratoga and could make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin was thinking of bringing Frosted back in the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont Park on July 9, but “that’s a long time away,” he said.
“Maybe the Met Mile is worth taking a look at,” he said. “We’ll look at pointing that way with four or five works before then.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Foreign-bred fillies and mares who have made a total of four starts in the U.S. will make up the bulk of the field for next Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park.
Chad Brown, whose stable is always laden with turf females, is expected to send out Guapaza and Sea Calisi. Guapaza, a Group 2 winner in Chile, was third, beaten a length, in the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream in March. Sea Calisi, a Group 2 winner in France, will be making her U.S. debut.
ELMONT, N.Y. – With two graded stakes victories, Ironicus seemed on his way to becoming a significant player in the male turf division last year before being sidelined last fall by a cracked cannon bone.
Following surgery and a recuperative period, Ironicus will look to make a new charge to the upper echelon of the turf division when he kicks off his 5-year-old campaign in next Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy Stakes at Belmont Park.
