ELMONT, N.Y. – While his three Belmont Stakes starters were the focal point of his Friday morning, trainer Todd Pletcher had several other horses put in workouts for upcoming stakes engagements.
Competitive Edge, Pletcher’s undefeated 3-year-old male, and Curlina, a 3-year-old filly who has won two of three starts, went a sharp half-mile together in 48.87 seconds over the Belmont main track. The two then galloped out impressively, going five furlongs in 1:00.43 and six furlongs in 1:12.75.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Wicked Strong lived up to his name in a five-furlong workout Friday that went in 58.82 seconds in preparation for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 6.
Joel Rosario, who will ride Wicked Strong for the first time in the Met Mile, climbed aboard him for the first time Friday. Wicked Strong, equipped with blinkers that he regularly wears in races, broke off from the half-mile pole, went his first quarter in 23.17 seconds over the main track, hit the wire in 46.87, and then went his last eighth in 11.95 seconds.
AUBURN, Wash. – Northwest racing lost an old friend Thursday when Lindy Aliment, a popular official for parts of six decades, died at his home in Renton, Wash. He was 87.
Aliment was the longtime clerk of scales at Longacres, easily recognizable in the winner’s circle as the man with the hat. Hired at age 29 in 1957, Aliment, a schoolteacher, began wearing a fedora at the urging of Longacres founder Joe Gottstein, who reasoned that because so many of the jockeys were older than Aliment, a hat might enhance his image as an authority figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Get Happy Mister, the winner of the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes at Santa Anita on April 19, has remained with trainer Mark Tsagalakis in Southern California for an expected start at Los Alamitos or Del Mar in the coming months.
After the San Simeon, owner Annette Brown of Lakewood, Colo., indicated that Get Happy Mister would race at Arapahoe Park in that state this summer. Tsagalakis said on Friday that the plan was changed, but that he is taking a patient approach with Get Happy Mister.
AUBURN, Wash. – Emerald Downs has a new voice. Matt Dinerman, a 22-year-old San Diego native who wowed Emerald officials during a recent audition, has been hired as the replacement for longtime track announcer Robert Geller, who leaves for Woodbine next month.
Dinerman grew up attending the races at Del Mar and spent four summers walking hots for trainer John Sadler and another two as part of Del Mar’s publicity team. He recently graduated from Chapman University in Orange, Calif. This will be his first go-round as a full-time announcer.
Jimmy Graham said he intends to ride this summer at Del Mar in Southern California, where Brad Pegram has agreed to take his book.
Graham, the leading jockey at the 2014 Arlington and 2014-15 Fair Grounds meets, will be leaving his comfort zone in the Midwest.
“If we take off, that’s great,” said Graham, 36. “If not, well, we’re going to give it our best.”
CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, is scheduled to have a workout at Ascot in England on Thursday in advance of the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the same venue June 17.
Jockey Frankie Dettori is scheduled to work California Chrome and might ride the popular 4-year-old in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf, trainer Art Sherman said.
“If he likes him, I think he will” ride him, Sherman said on Friday from his base at Los Alamitos. “He hasn’t given me a commitment.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – David Lopez has been a welcome addition to the jockey colony at Hastings this year. The veteran rider has won 1,160 races since he arrived in North America in 2001. His first win came at Hialeah Park.
“I think it was the last year they ran there,” Lopez said. “It was a shame because it was a beautiful track.”
Lopez is originally from Peru, where he grew up in a racing family. He was the leading apprentice in his home country before moving to the United States. He started his riding career in 1996.
