HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Victor Espinoza, the jockey of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, will accept mounts at Gulfstream Park on the Summit of Speed program July 5.
“I’m very much looking forward to a return to south Florida and Gulfstream Park,” said Espinoza, who completed the Triple Crown sweep aboard American Pharoah with a convincing victory in the Belmont Stakes. “If I remember right, my last time there was the Breeders’ Cup of 1999.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stellar Wind, fourth in the Kentucky Oaks on May 1, is part of a projected field of nine in Saturday’s $200,000 Summertime Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
Trained by John Sadler for Pete and Kosta Hronis, Stellar Wind is one of two stakes winners expected in the field, along with Sheer Pleasure, who won consecutive stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita earlier this year. Sheer Pleasure won the Evening Jewel for sprinters in April and the Melair Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on May 23.
Overnight purses for the summer meeting at Del Mar will start lower than at last year’s summer meet because of a seven-figure debt carried forward from the purse pool last year.
Del Mar released its first condition book this week, listing races to be offered in the first weeks of the summer meeting. The across-the-board cuts reflect a reduction of approximately 8 percent for all overnight races during the meet, which runs from July 16 to Sept. 7.
“Everybody got a little bit taken off,” said Del Mar executive vice president of racing Tom Robbins.
OPELOUSAS, La. – You know you are having a great season when it is news when you don’t win. Just three times in the first 40 nights of the current Evangeline Downs stand have leading trainer Karl Broberg and leading jockey Colby Hernandez been shut out. Their individual numbers are staggering. When they team up, they are almost otherworldly.
“We can hardly believe it ourselves,” said Broberg, who has sent out 62 winners from 112 starters this season for a remarkable strike rate of 58 percent and a $2.85 ROI. “We made some changes to begin the season, and it has really paid off.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In his final morning of training at Churchill Downs during what has been an historic spring, American Pharoah was sent out for a quick one-mile jog early Wednesday over a sloppy racetrack.
Jimmy Barnes, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, had contemplated keeping the latest Triple Crown winner in the barn because of the rain. But during a lull at about 7 a.m., the colt was tacked up and sent to the track with regular exercise rider Jorge Alvarez aboard, going through his paces with deliberation and without incident.
Stanley Mankin, a breeder, owner, and trainer who competed on the Nebraska circuit and in recent times had been racing at Canterbury, died on Saturday, according to friends. He was 72.
Mankin died in Grand Island, Neb. His best runners included Skunktail, a popular Nebraska-bred stakes winner who won 20 races, and Wild Jacob, a multiple stakes winner bred in Maryland.
Mankin saddled his first winner on March 13, 1992, at Fonner Park.
When Karl Broberg asked C.J. McMahon if he would ride first call for his stable this meet at Lone Star Park, the 20-year-old jockey did not hesitate to join forces with the man who currently ranks as the leading trainer in wins in North America.
“I told him, ‘No problem,’ ” McMahon said. “It was a great opportunity. Those opportunities don’t always come along.”
A community-wide fund-raising effort during the Preakness meet at Pimlico helped raise more than $65,000 for the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, according to the Maryland Jockey Club. Fund-raising events included Canter for the Cause, an All-Female Handicapper Challenge, the raffle of a John Deere Gator, and Karaoke for the Cause. In addition, Sagamore Racing donated $30,000 to the TAA.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ageless wonder Jon Court followed his 32-1 upset Saturday night aboard Frivolous in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis with a 10-1 triumph on Honey Lake in a 1 1/2-mile turf allowance on Sunday.
Frivolous and Honey Lake both are 5-year-old G. Watts Humphrey homebred mares trained by Humphrey’s daughter Vicki Oliver.
Court, 54, has won with 15 of 90 mounts at the spring meet, with his return on investment a lucrative $3.40 for every $2 win bet.
