HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – W.B. Smudge has thrived over the course of the Oaklawn meet, and as a result the former claimer will get his first shot in a graded stakes in the $400,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on Sunday.
“He put himself there,” said Matt Kordenbrock, who trains W.B. Smudge for Robert O’Hara Jr. and Gwyneth Gower. “He’s really blossomed down here. He really took a liking to this place, the racetrack, and I personally think he’s gotten better.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Takeover Target won stakes at Saratoga and Belmont Park last season in his 3-year-old year. Sunday, he’ll look to add a stakes win at Aqueduct to his résumé when he runs in the $100,000 Danger’s Hour, the first turf stakes of 2016 on this circuit.
The Danger’s Hour, run at a mile, drew seven runners for the turf, including New York-bred turf champion Lubash. Send It In was entered to run only if the race is transferred to the main track.
Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist was expected to return to the track on Saturday morning at Keeneland for the first time since his Florida Derby victory.
Nyquist’s return to training was delayed two days by an elevated white blood cell count, discovered during routine post-shipping blood work.
Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill, said Nyquist displayed no outward symptoms of illness, such as an elevated temperature or leaving feed, and stressed that his energy level remains good. Additional blood work taken came back “perfect,” Sisterson said.
Multiple graded stakes winner Heart to Heart, who will seek his first Grade 1 victory in the Maker’s 46 Mile next Friday at Keeneland, tuned up with a half-mile work in 48.80 seconds Friday morning.
“I would love to get a Grade 1 with him,” trainer Brian Lynch said. “He has won a lot of graded stakes and hopefully he can take the next step this year.”
Heart to Heart will take a three-race win streak into next week’s race and will top a field also expected to include Tourist, Conquest Typhoon, Reload, and Shining Copper.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Swipe is tentatively expected to make his 3-year-old debut in a race in which the colt would surely be the favorite, the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland next Saturday.
Runner-up to Nyquist in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here last fall, Swipe was scheduled to breeze Saturday at Santa Anita, and then trainer Keith Desormeaux will decide whether to put him on a Wednesday flight to Kentucky. Swipe, a son of Birdstone, has gotten off to a late start on his year after undergoing minor ankle surgery. The Saturday work was to be his seventh since late February.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato has been in an enviable position for most of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.
Since Jan. 15, the 15th day of a 63-day season, D’Amato has led or been second to Doug O’Neill in the trainer standings. Last Sunday, D’Amato sent out three consecutive winners to take a three-race lead over O’Neill. Thursday, he had two wins.
Sunday is the final day of the winter-spring meet, and if D’Amato holds on, he will win his first training title. After this weekend, D’Amato is going nationwide.
Delaware Park opened its main track for training April 1 in preparation for its 2016 season, which begins May 21. Racing will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays through Oct. 15.
The highlights of the meet will be the Grade 1, $750,000 Delaware Handicap, a 1 1/4-mile race for fillies and mares July 16, and the Grade 3, $300,000 Delaware Oaks at 1 1/16 miles July 9.
There will be three supporting stakes on the Del Cap undercard, topped by the Grade 3, $200,000 Kent Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds.
A horse was confirmed to have the equine herpesvirus Thursday at Parx Racing, bringing the total number of positive cases at the track to four. Thursday’s diagnosis restarts the 28-day quarantine clock, which now runs through May 5.
The Parx quarantine will stay in effect until 28 days pass without a horse getting ill from the virus.
Ben’s Cat turned in his fifth work in three weeks Thursday at Laurel Park and is nearing the first start of his 10-year-old campaign.
A winner of 30 of 53 starts and just less than $2.5 million, Ben’s Cat is being pointed to the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint on May 20 at Pimlico. He is likely to start once before that race.
Ben’s Cat has won the McKay four of the last five years, including the last three runnings. Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury is pleased with Ben’s Cat’s progress.
Force the Pass came out of his third-place finish in the Grade 3 Appleton at Gulfstream Park in good shape and will now be pointed to the Grade 3 Fort Marcy on Kentucky Derby Day at Belmont Park, according to Alan Goldberg, who trains the 4-year-old son of Speightstown for the Colts Neck Stable of Richard Santulli. Force the Pass was making his first start in almost seven months in the Appleton.
“He’s doing fine,” Goldberg said.
