ARCADIA, Calif. – Earlier this week, owners Chris Aulds and Peter Jeong and trainer Matt Chew were considering running Singing Kitty on Saturday in either the $150,000 Providencia Stakes on turf or the more prestigious $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks, a Grade 1 dirt race at 1 1/16 miles.
With two turf stakes wins this year, Singing Kitty will try a new challenge in the Santa Anita Oaks. A Tuesday evening conversation between Aulds and Chew clinched the plan, Chew said Wednesday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Chad Brown is very familiar with Keeneland, not only through his visits to the horse sales for his deep-pocketed clients but also in his work as an assistant to the late Bobby Frankel and with his own horses since he opened a public stable more than seven years ago.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wise Dan won’t be running at the Keeneland spring meet, but that’s been known for some time now. What came as somewhat unexpected and further disappointing news for racing fans is that champion Judy the Beauty won’t make the meet either.
“I just couldn’t get her ready in time,” said Wesley Ward, who owns and trains Judy the Beauty, the Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter of 2014. “It was a fierce winter, and we had to miss too much training with her.”
The first leg of the turf starter handicap series that was to begin Saturday at Pimlico has been pushed back a week because the turf course is not yet in racing condition.
The three-leg series for horses who have started for $5,000 claiming or less in 2014-15 will increase in distance from a mile to 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles. The purses are $25,000 in Round 1, $30,000 in Round 2, and $35,000 in the final round. There will be separate divisions for males and females.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Chuck C. Lopez is living the dream – as hard as he tries not to dream at all.
Lopez is the regular rider of El Kabeir, a multiple-stakes-winning 3-year-old who is one step – or more correctly, nine furlongs – away from making it to the Kentucky Derby. Lopez, 54, has never ridden in a Kentucky Derby, and if he were somehow to win it this year, he would match Bill Shoemaker as the oldest rider to accomplish the feat. Shoemaker was 54 when he won the 1986 Derby on Ferdinand.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Gold Medal Dancer, the winner of the Grade 2, $294,000 Azeri in her last start March 14, had a significant work at Oaklawn on Saturday, breezing five furlongs by herself in a bullet 59.20 seconds. She has emerged from the work in good order and remains under consideration for the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn on April 10, according to trainer Donnie Von Hemel.
“She’ll most likely run in the Apple Blossom, but we’ll see what the noms are, what the weights are,” Von Hemel said Monday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Bret Calhoun could have the favorites in two of the three undercard stakes supporting the Arkansas Derby. He said Promise Me Silver, who is undefeated in six starts, is being pointed for the $100,000 Instant Racing for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs. She will be seeking her sixth career stakes win.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Bridget’s Big Luvy will take up the chase for some Kentucky Derby eligibility points later this month when he starts in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. The horse earned a shot at the April 11 race at Oaklawn Park with a convincing win in the $100,000 Private Terms on March 21 at Laurel. There were a couple of reasons why the Arkansas Derby was targeted for the Belmont Park-based Bridget’s Big Luvy, trainer Jeremiah Englehart said Tuesday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Keeneland spring meet figures to get away quicker than a Wesley Ward 2-year-old, with a revamped schedule that’s more front-loaded than ever before.
By Tuesday afternoon, entries already were drawn for the first two days of the 15-day meet, with 10 races carded for Friday and a blockbuster 11-race program set for Saturday. The Saturday card will include five graded stakes, anchored by the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, which Keeneland racing officials are hoping to restore to its former glory with a new date and a higher purse.
