OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gun Song, the 3 1/4-length winner of last Friday’s Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, is back in New York, where she will train toward a potential start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes at Saratoga on June 7, trainer Mark Hennig said.
“We’ll nominate to the Acorn and see how she’s doing,” Hennig said Monday at his Belmont barn.
Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone returned to the work tab Saturday in Saratoga, working a half-mile in 48.20 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
Sierra Leone worked in company and on the inside of Domestic Product, the Tampa Bay Derby winner who finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby.
Sierra Leone is pointing to the Belmont Stakes to be run June 8 at Saratoga. There are no immediate plans for Domestic Product.
Nearly 30 years have passed since Unfinished Symph led throughout the Grade 2 Shoemaker Handicap at Hollywood Park in 1995, giving then 26-year-old trainer Wesley Ward a fourth career stakes win.
So much has changed since then. Ward, 56, is a leading trainer in Kentucky and well-known for his annual trip, and success, to Royal Ascot in Britain each June.
Later this month, Ward will seek his first stakes win in California since the summer of 2022 when Dominican Pioneer and Funtastic Again are scheduled to start in the now-Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.
Friday morning was a last chance for errands for jockey Joe Talamo before he rode at Santa Anita for the first time since early 2020 later that afternoon.
Talamo, 34, has been based in the Midwest in recent years, but has returned to California for the next six months in an effort to reboot a career that stalled over the winter.
He had one mount booked on Friday and Saturday and two on Sunday, including rides in both of the weekend stakes.
“I’m grateful for that,” he said on Friday morning. “We’ll try to build on that.
Assiniboia Downs launches its 2024 season on Monday with a 50-day stand that largely mirrors the 2023 meet. Racing will be conducted on Mondays and Tuesdays until June 5, when Wednesdays are added. Wednesdays will then be dropped for the final two weeks of the meet, which concludes Sept. 17. Post time is 7:35 p.m. Central.
Golden Gate Fields will not race on Sunday because of insufficient entries, the track announced on Thursday, continuing an alarming trend in recent weeks in advance of the track’s closure on June 9.
The cancellation was announced early in the afternoon. The track has canceled five days of racing since mid-April.
Racing was not held on April 19 or May 1 because of a lack of entries. Last weekend, the track canceled racing on Friday of this week and on May 24, citing concern over entries.
While her Kenny McPeek-trained stablemate Mystik Dan prepares for the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Kentucky Oaks heroine Thorpedo Anna got back on the work tab early Thursday morning at Churchill Downs.
Thorpedo Anna, who came to the track as it opened at 5:30 a.m., breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds flat with jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. - who will travel to Baltimore to ride Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the Preakness - in the saddle. Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols caught the filly galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.60.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Where’s My Ring, tenth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3, was recently shipped to New York for an intended start in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at the Belmont at Saratoga meeting on June 7.
Where’s My Ring emerged from the loss in the Kentucky Oaks with a swollen leg sustained when she was apparently kicked by a rival, according to trainer Val Brinkerhoff.
The filly lost a shoe in the incident and developed swelling that has since subsided, he said.
BALTIMORE – If this training thing doesn’t work out for D. Wayne Lukas, perhaps he’ll have a future in stand-up comedy.
Lukas provided most of the comic relief at the annual Alibi Breakfast, held the Thursday of Preakness week where trainers used to give possible excuses for if their horses didn’t run well in the second jewel of the Triple Crown, but now just tell stories.
Lukas, 88, is a six-time winner of the Preakness and sends out two horses in Saturday’s 149th renewal –Just Steel and Seize the Grey.
Canterbury Park opens Saturday night with a number of new stables, a key addition to its wagering format, and plans to roll out a fresh sprint distance in July.
Canterbury is set for a 54-date meet through Sept. 28. The season is starting about a week earlier than last year and ending two weeks later. Canterbury will generally race Thursday and Saturday nights, and at 1 p.m. Central on Sundays.
