ELMONT, N.Y. – Wicked Strong did not find a soft spot in which to make his turf debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont Park.
Among his seven rivals in the one-mile overnight stakes are King Kreesa, a two-time Grade 3 Poker Stakes winner; Reload, undefeated in three turf tries; Grand Arch, a Grade 2 winner; Aztec Brave, a listed stakes winner at Aqueduct; and Vyjack, a respectable second in his turf debut in the Poker. Howe Great and Choctaw Chuck complete the field.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Five stakes winners this year are among the eight fillies and mares projected to start in Saturday’s $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos.
The Grade 2 race at 6 1/2 furlongs is led by Warren’s Veneda, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in March, and Sunday Rules, who is unbeaten in five starts.
The other runners are Amaranth, Fantastic Style, Harlington’s Rose, Legacy, Living the Life, and Ramona’s Wildcat.
Miss Temple City, who represented the United States so well when a solid fourth in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19, likely will make her next start at Saratoga, according to trainer Graham Motion.
Miss Temple City tried her hardest in the Coronation under John Velazquez but came up two lengths short.
“She ran great. It’s a shame she didn’t get a piece of it,” Motion said. “It would have been great to have her Group 1-placed at Ascot. But she proved she belonged and that the American 3-year-olds stack up.”
The California stakes winners Ashleyluvssugar, Bolo, and Spanish Queen were back at Santa Anita on Tuesday after disappointing performances in Grade 1 stakes in New York and New Jersey last weekend. At least two of them are likely to start at the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins July 16.
Trainer Larry Jones will have the home-field advantage when he sends out two of the eight runners in the $300,000 Delaware Oaks on Saturday.
Jones, who is based at Delaware Park during the summer, plans to run both Lovely Maria, the winner of the Kentucky Oaks in her last start, and White Clover, the winner of the Our Mims, the local Delaware Oaks prep.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Buff Bradley was as disappointed in the results of the Belmont Derby last weekend as anyone who bet on Divisidero at 5-2.
“I really wish we’d been up closer because the pace was so slow, but that’s hindsight,” said Bradley. “The good news is he came out of the race really well, and we’ve got a lot of racing left in the year.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – At Woodbine on Sunday, the turf-sprinting filly Katie’s Eyes finished second by a neck to Go Blue Or Go Home in a wickedly fast edition of the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes, an open race in which she tackled males, and on Friday at Arlington, the 2-year-old filly Amira J blazed to a 14-length win in her five-furlong career debut. All in all, it was a good weekend for the stable of Mike Stidham, who trains both horses.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Sweet Luca could only finish fifth at Arlington Park on June 12 making his first start since December, but he was also rusty in his 2014 debut. Two races later, Sweet Luca became the only horse last year to defeat subsequent champion sprinter Work All Week, beating him by 1 1/4 lengths in the Addison Cammack Handicap. A decent step forward seems likely in Thursday’s featured sixth race, and that would make Sweet Luca an attractive play in a high-end Polytrack allowance that has stakes-dropping Dimension as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The last Kentucky Derby winner to race at Arlington was Unbridled, who, the year after winning the 1990 Derby, won an allowance race here in 1991. But Arlington is the plan for 2014 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, who arrived in Chicago on Monday after shipping from England by way of Amsterdam.
ELMONT, N.Y. – As it did last year, the Aqueduct backstretch will be shut down during the Saratoga meet and horses stabled there will be moved to either Belmont Park or Saratoga, New York Racing Association officials announced last week.
The backside is expected to close about July 23 and reopen about Labor Day, Sept. 7, according to Martin Panza, NYRA’s director of racing operations.
