BALTIMORE – Up With the Birds, the 2013 Canadian Horse of the Year, is among 10 older horses in a competitive renewal of the Grade 2, $400,000 Dixie Stakes, the lead-in to the Preakness on a 13-race Saturday program at Pimlico.
Trained by Malcolm Pierce, Up With the Birds will be trying to rebound off a subpar effort last month at Keeneland in his only start so far this year. The 4-year-old colt will be ridden by Joel Rosario when breaking from post 8 in the 113th running of the Dixie.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. – Suffolk Downs, which had planned to add Tuesdays to its live-racing calendar beginning next week, has scratched the cards for May 20 and May 27 due to a shortage of horses.
“Right now, the horse population is not adequate to go to a four-day schedule. We’re going to have to take this on a week-by-week basis,” said Chip Tuttle, the track’s chief operating officer.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There’s a new Chief in town this summer, and his name is Allen Jerkens.
Jerkens, known as “The Chief,” decided this month to stable year-round at Gulfstream Park rather than return to New York at the end of the winter season in southern Florida. He’s gone back to New York for the summer since he first came to Gulfstream in 1947.
“I missed opening day at Belmont Park for the first time in 68 years,” said Jerkens, 85, who has 10 horses stabled locally, including the multiple Grade 2-placed 3-year-old filly House Rules.
BALTIMORE – Bob Baffert began the year with 3-year-old prospects like Hoppertunity, Indianapolis, Midnight Hawk, and Tap It Rich. But when they kicked the gate for the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, his lone representative was Chitu, and he’s down to just one runner, Bayern, for the Preakness Stakes here Saturday at Pimlico.
When racing commences at Canterbury Park on Friday evening, the stable area’s nearly 1,600 stalls will be at capacity for only the second time since 1991. A marketing and purse enhancement agreement reached in 2012 with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which owns and operates Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, will contribute $75 million to the horsemen’s purse structure over the deal’s 10-year span. This season, purses are estimated to reach a record $13 million for the 69-card meet, an average of just under $190,000 per day.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After relinquishing the lead late in the Jacques Cartier Stakes on April 13, Really Sharp reversed his fortunes last Sunday, holding off Occasional View in the final strides to win the Grade 3, $153,400 Vigil Stakes under jockey Steven Bahen.
“We were hoping we could settle a little bit off of the lead, and it went great,” said winning trainer Ian Black. “He had lots of horse turning for home, and he stayed on well. I think that was the best race he ever ran.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The field for the Woodbine Oaks on June 15 is beginning to take shape after last Saturday’s $150,400 Fury Stakes, a key local prep for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Wild Catomine, trained by Mark Casse and owned by John Oxley, captured her first stakes victory and remained undefeated in the Fury, as she stalked the early pace and held off Hot and Spicy and Lexie Lou in the final strides.
“I thought Gary [Boulanger] rode her really well,” Casse said. “She’s a talented horse.”
Mike Teel, an Oklahoma-based trainer who won titles at Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows, died Friday, according to friends. He had been battling cancer. Teel was 63.
Teel on Monday was represented by the final winner of his career when first-time starter Copper Flash captured the eighth race at Will Rogers, a maiden special weight sprint for fillies and mares bred in Oklahoma. The 3-year-old had been entered prior to her trainer’s death.
