LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Norm Casse admits he is running out of things to say about Tepin. But, he certainly doesn’t take her accomplishments for granted.
Tepin, last year’s female turf champion, won her sixth consecutive race Saturday when she easily dispatched of her six rivals in winning the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs by 3 1/2 lengths.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nyquist, the Kentucky Derby winner, emerged from the race in good order on Sunday morning, according to trainer Doug O’Neill, and was set to head to Baltimore on Monday to begin preparations for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on May 21.
When Wayne Catalano cut back on his Arlington string two years ago, releasing his grip on the Arlington trainer standings, Larry Rivelli was ready to step in. Rivelli was the leading trainer in 2014 at Arlington with 59 winners and ran away with the training title last year with 72 winners to Scott Becker’s second-best 40.
It figures to be more of the same for Rivelli this summer. He has somewhere north of 60 horses stabled at Arlington, including a handful of stakes runners and a 25-horse 2-year-old contingent that Rivelli believes is the strongest of his career.
Preparations for Woodbine’s clockwise turf racing began this week, as the dirt training track was open for a clockwise training session Tuesday.
Woodbine plans to run up to 40 races in the opposite direction on turf this season. The move will allow the track to offer more turf racing over a portion of the course that is used only for races going 1 1/4 miles and beyond. A trial race is scheduled for May 16, with the first official clockwise turf race scheduled for June 10. Woodbine has branded the series of races as the “EuroTurf series.”
Bear’sway started his 3-year-old season with an impressive victory in the $100,000 Wando Stakes on April 24 at Woodbine and will be pointed to next Saturday’s Grade 3 Marine Stakes, trainer Reade Baker said.
Baker said the time between the Wando and the Marine is shorter than he would have preferred, but options are limited for American-bred 3-year-olds at this time of year at Woodbine.
“It’s tighter than I thought, but what are you going to do?” he said.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Streamline’s storybook ascent has been put on hold until autumn.
A 4-year-old Illinois-bred filly, Streamline bounded out of obscurity this winter at Oaklawn Park, where she had an excellent four-stakes campaign that began with a win in the $100,000 Pippin and culminated with a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Crumlin Spirit stamped herself as a contender for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks here on June 12 by upsetting Caren in last Sunday’s Lady Angela Stakes, earning a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure.
Trainer Mike Doyle said he will target the $150,000 Fury Stakes over seven furlongs for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies on May 22 for Crumlin Spirit but added that he will keep his eye open for a race going two turns.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2-year-old filly Lemonaideen earned a brief vacation after winning her debut at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Lemonaideen, by Square Eddie, led throughout a maiden special weight race at 4 1/2 furlongs, winning by 1 1/2 lengths over Californiasummer. After the race, trainer Ed Freeman said Lemonaideen will be sent to Ocean Breeze Farm in Bonsall, Calif. – the former Vessels Stallion Farm – for a brief rest.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Barry Abrams has relinquished his training license and is taking a break from training while dealing with throat cancer.
“I might go back to training, I might not,” Abrams, 62, told Santa Anita publicity. “I’m officially not training any horses.”
Abrams underwent surgery for throat cancer in 2005 and had a recurrence in 2011. The operations left him with limited use of his voice. Abrams said he finds it difficult to communicate with his clients, jockeys, and stable staff.
