BALTIMORE – Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist’s final gallop before Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness Stakes got a little interesting Thursday morning when one of his rivals – the Bob Baffert-trained Collected – got a little too close for comfort.
Nyquist was scheduled to gallop a strong mile Thursday, going at what is known as a two-minute clip – each eighth at approximately 15 seconds.
Equestrian Phillip Dutton, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has joined West Point Thoroughbreds, which co-owns Grade 1 winner Ring Weekend. Ring Weekend makes his return to competition in the Grade 2 Dixie Stakes on the Preakness undercard Saturday at Pimlico.
You might call Keith Desormeaux persistent. He’d probably prefer that you call him a man of faith and conviction.
Exaggerator, trained by Desormeaux, has lost all four times he has run against Nyquist, most recently May 7 in the Kentucky Derby – and yet Desormeaux is highly optimistic that Exaggerator will emerge on top when the 141st Preakness is run Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
Canterbury Park’s grand experiment – dropping its takeout rates to the lowest level in the country – begins with an eight-race card Friday night.
The Twin Cities-area track has a blended takeout rate of 16.5 percent this year, down 20 percent from its 2015 meet. The takeout on win, place, and show wagers is 15 percent, while all exotic bets have an 18 percent takeout.
Grade 1 winners Ring Weekend and Grand Arch head a salty field of 13 as they make their 2016 debuts in the Grade 2, $250,000 Dixie Stakes for older horses on the turf on Saturday at Pimlico.
The Dixie is the richest of the eight stakes on the undercard of the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes, and immediately precedes the classic on the card. The field for the Preakness was to be drawn later Wednesday evening at Pimlico.
First post for Saturday's 14-race card is 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A familiar name from years past is back on the local scene, trainer Patrick Biancone, who has moved his stable back to south Florida and to the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach.
Biancone has not raced at Gulfstream Park since 2011 and shortly afterward moved to the West Coast. He has sent out only 98 starters since Jan. 1, 2014, winning just eight races. He has no wins from seven starters this season.
More Than Most, a 7 1/4-length winner of the $75,000 fillies division of the Texas Stallion Stakes last Sunday at Lone Star Park, will be pointed to a turf stakes at the track, trainer Bret Calhoun said Wednesday. More Than Most is targeting the $50,000 Lane’s End Stallion Scholarship Stakes, a 7 1/2-furlong race for Texas-bred fillies and mares June 18.
“She seems to be pretty versatile as far as the surface goes,” Calhoun said. “We’ll have to run against older horses. I’m not too fond of that. But I like that it’s for Texas-breds.”
Arapahoe Park in Aurora, Colo., will be launching its season a week earlier than usual on Friday, when it opens for a 39-date mixed meet. The season featuring Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses will run through Aug. 14.
The Arapahoe meet had traditionally opened during Memorial Day weekend, but track officials wanted to start earlier this year to align opening day with the Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico. The decision was made after American Pharoah won last year’s Triple Crown.
Texas Chrome and his 2-year-old stablemate Country Candy have been standout winners at this Lone Star Park meet and are scheduled to see stakes action next month at Belmont Park, according to trainer J.R. Caldwell.
Texas Chrome was a 10 1/2-length winner of a division of the $75,000 Texas Stallion Stakes last Sunday, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 82 in his two-turn debut. Caldwell said Texas Chrome is being considered for one of two races on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 11.
