LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Calvin Borel always takes every December off, but this year, he’s taking most of the summer off – and even more time if he feels like it.
Circumstances are changing in the life and career of the 48-year-old jockey, whose three Kentucky Derby victories are the most compelling reasons he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in August 2013 and has achieved folk-hero status among thousands of racing fans.
Enriched by off-season revenues accrued from Instant Racing machines, purses at the five-day September meet at Kentucky Downs are expected to be worth a record $7.5 million, officials at the south-central Kentucky track announced Friday.
Twelve stakes will be run at the meet, to be conducted Sept. 5, 10, 12, 16, and 19, with the richest being the Grade 3, $600,000 Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12. Including bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, purses for maiden-special races will be worth $120,000, and allowance races will be worth as much as $130,000.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In his first day back training as a newly minted Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah went out for a routine jog Friday at Churchill Downs shortly after 7 a.m. Eastern, much to the satisfaction of his Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Exercise rider Jorge Alvarez was aboard American Pharoah for the one-mile, clockwise jog around a fast track. The exercise took all of eight minutes.
A Massachusetts horse trainer on Thursday urged the state’s gambling commission to reject a plan by Suffolk Downs and the state’s horsemen’s organization to run a three-day meet at the track this summer, saying the meet would not benefit the Massachusetts horse industry, according to media reports.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Carl O’Callaghan, suspended by Santa Anita stewards on Sunday for failing to appear at a hearing regarding an unpaid debt, was restored to good standing on Thursday after he reached a financial agreement with the backstretch supply company Angel’s Feed.
According to a ruling issued by stewards Scott Chaney, Kim Sawyer and Tom Ward on Thursday, the original decision was set aside, ending the suspension. O’Callaghan provided proof of an agreement with Angel’s Feed and a copy of the first in a series of payments, stewards said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Slumber, who finally broke through to capture his first graded stakes when he won the Grade 1 Manhattan last weekend at Belmont Park, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 15, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.
Brown said he would consider running Slumber once before the Arlington Million, perhaps in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park on July 5.
Slumber had lost 10 consecutive races before the Manhattan, four since being acquired at auction by a group headed by Michael Dubb and turned over to Brown.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Shug McGaughey isn’t sure what distance will ultimately prove to be the best for his Metropolitan Handicap winner, Honor Code. But he will give the ridgling a chance to prove himself against top-quality competition around two turns when he runs him next in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sweet Reason, a three-time Grade 1-winning filly and earner of more than $1.4 million, has been retired due to a tendon injury, her trainer, Leah Gyarmati, said Thursday.
The injury was discovered shortly after Sweet Reason’s fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 2, her only start this year.
“She came out of the race at Churchill with a little strain of her tendon,” Gyarmati said. “Nothing horrible; enough not to risk doing anything more with her.”
Trainer Bret Calhoun is having a strong season with his 2-year-olds, and a handful of them are eyeing upcoming stakes. Ship Rock, who accounted for Calhoun’s 2,500th training win when capturing a maiden special weight May 30 at Lone Star Park, is a candidate for the Grade 3, $100,000 Bashford Manor on June 27 at Churchill Downs.
Calhoun likes the race’s six-furlong distance for the horse, who closed with determination for a half-length win in his debut. For the effort, Ship Rock earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 60.
