ELMONT, N.Y. – Shagaf, who was eased in the Kentucky Derby, underwent surgery Thursday to remove chips from his left knee and left front ankle and likely will miss the rest of the year, according to Rick Nichols, the vice president/general manager for Shadwell Stable.
Nichols said the surgery was performed by Dr. Alan Ruggles, who told Nichols that the prognosis for a return to racing was very good.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Three horses with designs on stopping Nyquist’s bid for the Triple Crown in next Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico put in their final serious workouts for the race Friday morning at three different locations.
At Belmont Park, the lightly raced Stradivari drilled five furlongs in 59.51 seconds as his connections tighten the screws on an extremely talented colt.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Texas Red, the winner of the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is unlikely to start this year after being diagnosed with an ankle injury this spring.
Trainer Keith Desormeaux said on Friday that Texas Red will need a four-month recovery period for the injury, which he said does not require surgery.
“It’s nothing major, but I have to back off,” Desormeaux said. “He’ll be off for four months, so it will be eight months before you see him again. There’s always next year.”
Catch a Flight, who developed into one of the top handicap horses in California last year, has been retired, trainer Richard Mandella said Friday.
The 6-year-old Argentina-bred Catch a Flight won three graded stakes in 2015: the Grade 2 San Diego at Del Mar and the Grade 2 California and Grade 3 Precisionist at Santa Anita. Catch a Flight finished second to stablemate Beholder in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic in his most recent start in August. He also placed in the Grade 1 Gold Cup and Santa Anita Handicap.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The top turf horse in California will miss most of the summer due to tender feet. What a View, whose four-win streak during the Santa Anita winter meet included the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile and Grade 3 Thunder Road, is out until at least August, trainer Kenny Black said.
“We’re just giving his feet a little time to get healthy,” Black said. “He’s got bad feet, and that’s why he likes the soft grass.”
What a View’s last three starts were on a Santa Anita course labeled “yielding” or “good.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Blaine Wright is on fire at the Emerald Downs meet, but he is taking his hot start in stride.
“It’s been fun, but I know it isn’t going to last,” said Wright. “Most of my horses are fit from running, and because the meet was moved up this year, they have a big edge over the local horses.”
A year after Monmouth Park pulled out all the stops to lure American Pharoah to the Haskell Invitational, boosting the purse to $1.75 million, the Jersey Shore track will be tightening its belt for its 71st season, which begins Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – When the Desert Code Stakes was moved from turf to the main track because of wet conditions last Saturday, Tristan’s Trilogy stayed in the barn.
“He’s definitely a turf horse,” trainer Peter Miller said.
Tristan’s Trilogy beat maidens on the 6 1/2-furlong hillside turf course at Santa Anita on April 2 and will have his stakes debut on grass in the $75,000 Singletary Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on Saturday.
Miller said that Tristan’s Trilogy must show in the Singletary that he is more than a sprinter.
ARCADIA, Calif. – California Chrome and Beholder may be part of the newly created $12 million Pegasus Cup at Gulfstream Park next January.
On Thursday, their respective trainers, Art Sherman and Richard Mandella, said the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus Cup could be the focal point of winter campaigns for their runners.
Arlington chairman Richard Duchossois recently acquired a French 4-year-old filly named Marypop, with her connections hopeful that she has enough quality to merit a start in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes in August.
Marypop won a listed stakes in her 2016 debut and came back to capture the Group 3 Priz Allez France over 1 1/4 miles on April 28 at Chantilly. She’s currently in quarantine at Arlington but soon will move across the backstretch and into the barn of trainer Mike Stidham.
