ARCADIA, Calif. – Thirteen Arrows, a two-time stakes winner who recently joined trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s Southern California stable, will have her first start on the West Coast in the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos on April 23.
The Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes is run at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares and is the top race of the Los Alamitos spring meeting that runs through May 1.
On Saturday at Los Alamitos, Thirteen Arrows worked five furlongs in 1:00.60.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Kobe’s Back, the dominant sprinter in Southern California this year, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday, moving closer to a scheduled start in the $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes in Kentucky on May 7.
Kobe’s Back was ridden by jockey Iggy Puglisi, who was substituting for Gary Stevens, who was booked to ride at Keeneland on Saturday.
Puglisi never asked Kobe’s Back, riding the 5-year-old horse steadily in a solo exercise. Trainer Peter Eurton timed Kobe’s Back in 1:00.20, with a six-furlong gallop-out time of 1:13.20.
As more Kentucky Derby and Oaks hopefuls continue to arrive at Churchill Downs in Louisville, track officials have announced that the training time reserved exclusively for those horses will become effective next Saturday, April 23.
The period typically starts at around 8:30 a.m., after the track is freshly harrowed, and lasts about 20 minutes. Trainers are requested to use the yellow (Derby) and pink (Oaks) saddle towels that make their horses more easily identifiable to the public.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nick Zito had just sent a horse out for work at Keeneland early Friday when Nyquist started into his first breeze since his Florida Derby triumph.
“I was very impressed. I thought he worked at least a mile,” Zito said, referring to the official clocking of five furlongs in 1:02.60. “I’m watching close, and the horse is really into it before the wire the first time. He came all the way around and had every right to chuck it and didn’t chuck it at all. He’s a good horse.”
CYPRESS, Calif.– Jockey Rafael Bejarano, who led the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that ended April 10, recently dropped an appeal of a three-day suspension from February.
Bejarano, 33, will be suspended for three racing days – Sunday, Thursday, and Friday. There are no designated races exempt from suspension during that time frame in California, meaning Bejarano will not be in action. Designated races are typically graded stakes that are exempt from routine suspensions.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The stakes winners Calculator, Finnegans Wake, and Frank Conversation will make their next starts at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby weekend.
Calculator, second in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 9, will start in the $400,000 Alysheba Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on May 6 or the $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs May 7, trainer Peter Miller said.
Calculator won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in January 2015 but missed the rest of last season with a leg injury.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Danzing Candy, fourth in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 9, will start in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7 and will be trained through April at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in San Diego County.
Trainer Cliff Sise Jr. said on Thursday that he would prefer to train Danzing Candy at San Luis Rey Downs, which he said has a track with similarities to the surface at Churchill Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine Oaks prospect Caren had been nominated to Saturday’s $125,000 Star Shoot Stakes over six furlongs but will point toward the $125,000 Lady Angela Stakes instead, trainer Michael De Paulo said.
The Lady Angela, for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies, will be run over seven furlongs on the Tapeta on May 1.
“We’d like to run her a little farther than six furlongs,” De Paulo said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - After Smart Mission swept to victory at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 21 in her career debut, the half-sister to Grade 1 winner and millionaire Irish Mission immediately became a top prospect for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on June 12. But trainer Malcolm Pierce said that Smart Mission will miss the Oaks after having a chip removed from her knee shortly after her first race.
“She’s needing some time on the farm in Ocala,” Pierce said. “She’s not going to be ready for the Oaks, so we’re giving her a little break right now, and she’ll be fine by midseason.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s opening weekend marked the first races run on the new Tapeta main track, which drew positive early reviews from Woodbine’s jockeys.
“It’s beautiful,” said David Moran, who recorded two wins from 12 mounts last weekend. “So far, so good. The horses are very comfortable on it, and it seems to be playing very fair. It’s night and day to the old Polytrack.”
