Louisiana-bred millionaire Sunbean hasn’t raced since February but is galloping steadily, is close to being ready to breeze, and, if all goes well, will make his comeback sometime during the Fair Grounds meet, according to trainer Ron Faucheux.
“He’s been galloping, and he’s training great,” Faucheux said. “He’s never looked so good to me.”
Trainer Mike Stidham won with half of his eight starters during the four-day opening week of the Fair Grounds meet and sent all of those runners out to finishes of third or better. Stidham won two high-end turf-route races with the fillies Zubi Zubi Zu and Masquerade, and on Friday night, he ran one-two in that card’s only grass race with Dewey Lake and Joe Mambo.
Florent Geroux and Cisco Torres each rode six winners during opening week, with Mitchell Murrill finding the winner’s circle five times and Colby Hernandez notching four wins.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nobody appreciates Keen Ice more than Jerry Crawford, who manages the Donegal Racing partnership that owns the Travers Stakes winner. That appreciation is why Crawford was waffling this week about whether the star 3-year-old actually will start Friday in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Owner and trainer Jamie Grubbs scratched the 13-year-old Missing Sefa from a $5,000 claiming race Wednesday at Churchill Downs after reading on social media that the mare would be claimed on the premise that she needed to be rescued.
Grubbs said a Facebook funding campaign was started by a Thoroughbred retirement organization, but after Grubbs contacted the person responsible, the campaign was stopped.
As a general rule, it’s a good idea not to get too invested in 2-year-old debut maiden winners, but this is the time of year, as the 2-year-old crop nears its third birthday and the spring classics loom, that that rule often gets broken. And when the debut maiden winner in question is a half-brother to beloved Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and his trainer says the colt is “one of the nicest horses I’ve sat on in my life,” well, let the silly season begin.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It has been a career year for trainer Chad Brown, who has recorded personal bests in wins, graded stakes wins, and purse earnings. The 36-year-old conditioner looks to put a ribbon on a magnificent 2015 when he sends out top contenders in three of the four graded stakes being run Saturday at Aqueduct.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With Delightful Joy out with a temperature, Carrumba could inherit the role as favorite for the Grade 3, $300,000 Comely Stakes for 3-year-old fillies here Saturday.
Carrumba, trained by Shug McGaughey, brings a three-race winning streak into the Comely, which will be her stakes debut. Carrumba, a daughter of Bernardini, drew post 7 in the 10-horse field. She will be joined in the gate by her stablemate Fast Retailing.
VINTON, La. – Sunny Ridge, who finished a fast-closing second in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot last Saturday, closed out his 2-year-old season in the race, trainer Jason Servis said Wednesday.
Sunny Ridge, who was beaten a neck by Exaggerator in the Jackpot, won the Sapling Stakes in September at Monmouth and was the runner-up in the Grade 1 Champagne in October at Belmont. Servis said Sunny Ridge came out of the race in excellent condition, with plans for the horse, who races for breeder Dennis Drazin, to be determined. Sunny Ridge is being freshened in Kentucky.
MIAMI – Trainer Todd Pletcher appears to have the one to beat in Friday’s fifth race, an optional $40,000 claiming race on turf, with the 3-year-old filly Aljalela, who comes off a third-place finish in the Cellars Shiraz Stakes.
MIAMI – As has been the case since 2-year-old racing began here back in the spring, trainer Stanley Gold and owner and breeder Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm will be in the spotlight for the six juvenile stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park West. Four of the stakes will be run on dirt and two over turf.
Saturday’s 11-race card is the final one of the Gulfstream Park West meet. Racing will resume in south Florida at Gulfstream Park the following Saturday.
