Spanish Queen, the California-bred filly who won the Grade 1 American Oaks and aims to upset the Belmont Oaks on Saturday, officially is trained by Richard Baltas.
But jockey Brice Blanc also has been there every step of the way.
Blanc was the filly’s workout rider before she ever started and has ridden her in all four of her races. Blanc recently talked about Spanish Queen, 3 for 4 and looking for more.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Olorda will be trainer Chad Brown’s foe in Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, but sometime next month she will be his friend.
Olorda, recently purchased by owner Martin Schwartz, will return to Germany after Saturday to run in the German Oaks on Aug. 2, according to her current trainer, Michael Figge. But she eventually will return to the U.S. to be based with Brown, who counts Schwartz among his primary clients.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Samraat, who on Saturday is making his first start since last June, suffered his first defeat when he ran second to Wicked Strong in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in April 2014. Wicked Strong and Samraat finished fourth and fifth in that year’s Kentucky Derby.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The first three days of the two-week Los Alamitos summer meeting Thursday through Saturday had strong entries, with an average of 8.88 entrants per race.
It is not expected to last. Racing secretary Bob Moreno said on Thursday that he expects a decline for Sunday’s program and into the second and final week of the meeting July 9-12.
“It wasn’t much different last year,” Moreno said. “The longer we go into this, and the closer we get to Del Mar, it will be smaller. We’ll be a little lighter from now on.”
The Del Mar summer meeting begins July 16.
Big Macher will not run in the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 26, a race he won in 2014, because of a recent splint-bone injury, trainer Richard Baltas said on Thursday.
Big Macher has not raced since finishing fifth in the Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 28. In May, Big Macher was sent to trainer Wesley Ward at Arlington Park to be prepared for a trip to Royal Ascot in England. That plan was abandoned when Big Macher did not work well on turf, and the 5-year-old was sent back to Baltas at Santa Anita.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer David Fawkes said he was never tempted to turn Sheer Drama back to six furlongs for Sunday’s Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park. Instead, he’ll stretch his Grade 2 winner out to 1 1/4 miles for the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap on July 18. Sheer Drama, second as the favorite behind Frivolous in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 13, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.41, her final half in 47.20, here Thursday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Aside from the Kentucky Derby and Haskell Invitational, Wildcat Red has been among the favorites in just about every race he’s competed in. But the multiple graded stakes winner will be among the outsiders when he returns from a layoff of almost six months in Sunday’s Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ernie Semersky and partner Dory Newell’s Conquest Stables has ascended to prominence after just three years in operation and will have its first Queen’s Plate starter Sunday at Woodbine.
Conquest Boogaloo will represent Conquest Stables and comes into the $1 million Queen’s Plate off a third-place finish in the Plate Trial Stakes on June 14 at Woodbine. Conquest Curlinate also was under consideration for the Queen’s Plate but sustained a minor injury during training Thursday and was withdrawn.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Cocked and Loaded, who shipped from Arlington to win the Tremont Stakes on June 5 at Belmont Park, remained on track for a return trip to New York and a start July 25 in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga when he worked five furlongs in 1:02 last week over Arlington’s main track.
Cocked and Loaded has won both of his starts and was privately purchased after a debut win at Keeneland in April. The two races were on dirt, but trainer Larry Rivelli said Cocked and Loaded traveled at least as well over Arlington’s Polytrack as he does on a dirt surface.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s supposed to be tough times when a jockey loses his apprentice weight allowance, but that hasn’t been the case with Mitchell Murrill, who entered this week’s racing atop the Arlington Park jockey standings with 35 wins, 14 more than the next-best total.
