HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park will put on one of the most significant programs of its meet next Saturday, with champion Untapable expected to make her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $300,000 Azeri and champions American Pharoah and Take Charge Brandi on schedule to meet in the Grade 2, $750,000 Rebel Stakes.
The program also will include the Grade 3, $250,000 Razorback Handicap.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The one-week postponement of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes due to heavy rain caused trainer Bill Mott to change his plans for Grade 3 winner Dubai Sky, who would have been the favorite had the race gone off as scheduled last weekend.
The best horses to step onto the Turfway Park main track this week were there Tuesday, a dark day, when trainer Wesley Ward sent four Breeders’ Cup starters from Keeneland to work over Turfway’s synthetic Polytrack surface.
Among his many workers Tuesday were Hootenanny and Luck of the Kitten, the one-two finishers from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, as well as Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up Sunset Glow and Turf Sprint third-place finisher Undrafted.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Materiality kept his record unblemished and earned a shot at a Kentucky Derby prep race with an impressive 5 3/4-length victory over stablemate and even-money favorite Stanford in the 1 1/8-mile Islamorada overnight stakes here Friday. Materiality was ridden by John Velazquez.
Stanford was disqualified from second and placed last after ducking out suddenly upon entering the backstretch and interfering with several other horses.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Bill Mott has confirmed that Lea will make his next start in the Dubai World Cup, where he’ll have an opportunity to avenge his setback at the hands of Constitution in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap here earlier this winter.
Lea returned from an 11-month layoff and overcame an eventful trip to defend his title in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope on Jan. 10. But he fell three-quarters of a length short to the front-running Constitution when the pair met for the first time in the Donn.
In the Silverbulletday, the first local prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks, Forever Unbridled finished second, eight lengths behind I’m a Chatterbox. In the Rachel Alexandra, Forever Unbridled was third, 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner I’m a Chatterbox and a neck behind the runner-up Lovely Maria.
By the results, Forever Unbridled seems to be improving, and trainer Dallas Stewart sees other indications of her development.
The $400,000, Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap on March 28, the $1 million, Group 2 Godolphin Mile on March 28, and the $1.5 million, Grade 2 Charles Town Classic are the options being considered for the next start for Street Babe, trainer Michael Dilger said Wednesday.
Street Babe, a 4-year-old gelding based at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida, won the Grade 3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds in his third career start.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer A.C. Avila said on Thursday that he is debating whether to appeal a 60-day suspension and a $10,000 fine he received from the California Horse Racing Board after one of his starters tested in excess of the permitted level of the tranquilizer acepromazine last March.
Avila said he would consult with an attorney about an appeal this weekend but hinted that he might accept the penalty.
“I want to get it behind me,” Avila said. “I haven’t taken a vacation in eight years. For me, I can come back fresh.”
CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome’s workouts are intensifying as he approaches his next start, which will come in the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 28.
On Friday at Los Alamitos, California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, worked six furlongs in 1:11 and galloped out seven furlongs in 1:24.60.
Exercise rider Anna Wells was aboard California Chrome, who worked alone. Alan Sherman, assistant trainer to his father, Art, timed California Chrome in 1:11.20, including a final furlong in 11.20 seconds.
NEW ORLEANS – After the classy Louisiana-bred String King became a graded stakes winner with a victory Jan. 17 in the Grade 3 Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap, trainer-owner-breeder Charles Smith decided the gelding would benefit from a freshening.
After racing three times in 55 days, String King didn’t race five weeks later in the Fair Grounds Handicap, the final prep for the Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap on March 28. The $300,000, Grade 2 Muniz is the meet’s most significant turf race for older horses, and Smith intends to have String King primed for it.
