Trainer Robin Graham cross-entered her promising 3-year-old filly Gypsy Judy in both the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes on turf at Pimlico on Friday.
On Tuesday, Graham said Gypsy Judy would run in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan at 1 1/8 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Rudy Rodriguez and veterinarian Greg Bennett were each fined $3,000 by the New York State Gaming Commission for administering a drug to the horse Sage Valley outside the permitted time frame.
The fine for both was reduced to $1,500 for Rodriguez and Bennett waiving their right of appeal. According to the written ruling signed by gaming commission steward Steve Lewandowski, “This penalty is reflective of the findings of the investigation.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Upstart, the Holy Bull Stakes winner and Florida Derby runner-up who finished last in the Kentucky Derby, is getting some time off at WinStar Farm and will be pointed to a summer campaign at Saratoga, trainer Rick Violette said Tuesday.
WinStar bought a minority interest in Upstart from Ralph Evans prior to the Kentucky Derby. Violette said Upstart is about a week into an approximately three-week stay at WinStar before he rejoins the trainer at Aqueduct.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Mike Luzzi, sidelined since November when he was badly injured in a paddock accident at Aqueduct, will undergo surgery Friday to remove a screw from his left leg that is causing him irritation.
Luzzi, 45, said he does not view the surgery as a setback in his attempt to return to riding. Doctors have not given him a target date for a return.
“I want to be 100 percent when I do come back,” Luzzi said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Om and Kentuckian won races at Santa Anita a little more than an hour apart on Sunday. They might be side by side in the starting gate for their next starts.
On Tuesday, trainer Dan Hendricks said Om will be considered for the $100,000 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on June 7, a race that trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said is possible for Kentuckian.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red is back on a regular training schedule but still has a long way to go before he makes it back to the races. Wildcat Red hasn’t raced since suffering a hind-end injury following his fifth-place finish in the Sunshine Millions Classic in January.
Last year, Wildcat Red won the Grade 3 Hutcheson and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and was the runner-up in the Grade 1 Florida Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With a little luck, trainer Bill Kaplan will have two of his top horses back in action this weekend.
Kaplan is targeting allowance races in the condition book on Sunday for East Hall and My Point Exactly. East Hall has been idle since finishing a distant fourth behind Commissioner in the Grade 3 Skip Away here March 28, while My Point Exactly exits a third-place finish in an overnight stakes April 25.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Medal Count, third in the Belmont Stakes last spring, is now being trained by Al Stall Jr., who hopes to have the 4-year-old colt back in action before the Churchill spring meet ends June 27.
Owned by Spendthrift Farm, Medal Count has been sidelined since finishing last in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic last September at Belmont Park for his former trainer, Dale Romans.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ian Wilkes is zeroing in on the June 13 Stephen Foster undercard with at least a couple of his horses – Tiz Windy for the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis and Island Town for the Grade 3 Matt Winn.
Tiz Windy was a good fourth in the Grade 1 La Troienne on the Kentucky Oaks undercard, and Island Town was up in the last jumps to win a first-level optional claimer on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
Wilkes said he is unsure of the next start for Gorgeous Bird, who has resumed a steady work pattern since finishing sixth in the April 4 Blue Grass.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Roger Brueggemann is like everybody else who has trained in Chicago for many years: He wishes the purses were better than they are.
But Brueggemann, a regular on the Chicago circuit since he began training in 1991, is different from most: He has shifted his summer base of operations elsewhere for the first time, with most of his 50-horse stable split between Indiana Grand in suburban Indianapolis and the Trackside training center near Churchill Downs.
