LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Commanding Curve will be pointed to the Travers Stakes while perhaps dipping back into the allowance ranks after the colt emerged from his disappointing performance in the Belmont Stakes in good shape.
The runner-up in the May 3 Kentucky Derby at 37-1, Commanding Curve finished ninth of 11 in his only subsequent start, the June 7 Belmont.
MIAMI – Calder’s rich Summit of Speed, a series of sprint stakes that includes the prestigious Princess Rooney and Smile Sprint handicaps, has been canceled this season due to the pending dates agreement between Calder and Gulfstream Park. The Summit of Speed was scheduled for July 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice won five races over the weekend at Belmont Park – including three on Sunday – putting the finishing touches on an incredible 10-day run in which she won 9 of 16 races.
From June 6 through Sunday, Rice had nine winners and three seconds from the 20 horses whom she started in 16 races. The streak included wins in the Grade 2 True North with Palace and the $150,000 Easy Goer with Kid Cruz.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After failing to fill for Sunday, the $100,000 Tremont Stakes for 2-year-olds went with five and will be run Friday.
Helping the race fill were two first-time starters: Jamaalaree, a filly by Congaree entered by Wesley Ward, and King Rontos, a son of Unbridled’s Song entered by Rudy Rodriguez. Last weekend, Fashion Alert, a first-time starter trained by Todd Pletcher, won the $100,000 Astoria Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Last Gunfighter, the winner of the Mountainview Handicap at Penn National in his seasonal debut May 31, returned to the work tab over the weekend as he prepares for the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park on July 5.
Last Gunfighter worked a half-mile in 48.32 seconds Sunday over the Belmont main track in company with the streaking New York-bred Zivo, the recent winner of the Commentator Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Even though he ran about a second slower in the Plate Trial Saturday than Lexie Lou’s good clocking of 1:49.77 in the Woodbine Oaks the same day, the Todd Pletcher-trained We Miss Artie should go favored in the Queen’s Plate. The winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last year, We Miss Artie is 3 for 3 on Polytrack.
Can the Man grabbed a quarter when he won the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds June 7 but was scheduled to resume racetrack training on Monday, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
“I haven’t taken him to the track yet,” Baffert said. “He stumbled leaving there, and that’s when he grabbed it. With those quarters, the longer you keep them away from the track, the quicker they grow. I wanted to make sure that he was all right.”
Beholder, the Eclipse Award winner for her age group in 2012 and 2013, has shown progress from a pastern injury sustained June 7 in the $1 million Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park.
Trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday that Beholder “is getting better” and that the pastern has responded to treatment in the last week. He said the 4-year-old Beholder likely will be out of training for another month.
Mandella theorizes that Beholder was struck by the hoof of a rival in the Phipps Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Iotapa and Obviously, the winners of Grade 1 races Saturday at Santa Anita, will have only one race each through the end of the summer, their trainers said Sunday.
The 6-year-old Obviously won the $400,500 Shoemaker Mile on turf for the second consecutive year for owners Anthony Fanticola and Joe Scardino. Trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday that Obviously will be pointed for the $250,000 Del Mar Mile on turf Aug. 24.
