LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In his second day back training after winning the 140th Kentucky Derby last Saturday, California Chrome galloped 1 1/2 miles at Churchill Downs on Thursday as he prepares for the May 17 Preakness at Pimlico.
His gallop under regular exercise rider Willie Delgado was routine and much like those he turned in before the Kentucky Derby. Settled for the first mile or so, he picked up his pace over the final half-mile.
Trainer Gary Hartlage confirmed that the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap on the June 14 Stephen Foster Handicap undercard at Churchill is the probable next start for On Fire Baby, the winner of the Grade 1 La Troienne on the Oaks undercard.
“She bounced out of it great,” Hartlage said. “I’m not going to totally commit to the Fleur de Lis yet, but yes, we sure are looking that way.”
Trainer Bret Calhoun enjoyed a memorable Derby Weekend by winning the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on Friday with Marchman and the Grade 3 Eight Belles on Saturday with Fiftyshadesofgold.
The move to the Eight Belles was particularly sagacious, considering that Calhoun had pointed Fiftyshadesofgold to the Oaks for weeks before diverting her to a better fit.
“We’ll think about the Acorn for her,” he said.
Marchman, a two-time stakes winner this year in the turf-sprint niche, could run May 31 in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup at Penn National, he added.
Dreaming of Julia, a multiple graded stakes winner last year, will not make her 4-year-old debut in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Ruffian Stakes as expected due to a “little infection,” according to trainer Todd Pletcher.
Dreaming of Julia, who won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks by 21 3/4 lengths in 2013, has not run since finishing second to Close Hatches in the Grade 1 Mother Goose last June at Belmont.
Mr Speaker, the winner of the Lexington Stakes over Keeneland’s Polytrack, will make his next start in the $200,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes going 1 1/8 miles over the turf course at Belmont Park on May 26.
Trainer Shug McGaughey said he has not ruled out running Mr Speaker on dirt later in the year, but he will use the Pennine Ridge as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Belmont Derby on July 5.
In his first work since the Lexington, Mr Speaker worked four furlongs in 48.93 seconds over the dirt at Belmont last Saturday.
OMAHA, Neb. – It’s festival time in Omaha, as live racing returns to Horsemen’s Park for a three-day meet that starts Friday at 6 p.m. Central.
Friday’s four-race card kicks off a weekend of trip giveaways, T-shirt tosses, and live music in a true festival environment that always draws large crowds. Omaha has never forgotten its links to racing’s heyday, when Ak-Sar-Ben ranked as one of the Midwest's top tracks, and the weekend of racing over this strip is a strong reminder of those days.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Untapable will be considered for the Acorn or Mother Goose stakes for her next start, trainer Steve Asmussen said Wednesday, the second day for the filly to go to the track since she dominated the Kentucky Oaks last Friday at Churchill Downs.
Asmussen typically breezes his horses nine days after a race but said he’d “most likely skip” a work this Sunday for Untapable “and maybe wait another week before we let her get back into a nice rhythm.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Following Our Caravan’s 9 3/4-length victory in the Calder Derby on April 5, it would not have been surprising had his connections targeted the Preakness Stakes on May 17.
But owner Stuart Sobotnick and trainer Michael Dilger opted for the more conservative route and chose to run Our Caravan in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.
Our Caravan is the only stakes winner among seven 3-year-olds entered Wednesday in the Peter Pan, the local prep for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 7.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Ferocious makes his stakes debut in the $100,000 Lazaro Barrera Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Santa Anita on Saturday. The race could lead to a start in stakes around two turns this summer, trainer Ron Ellis said.
Already, the lightly raced colt has displayed significant ability, winning his last two starts after finishing a game second in a maiden race in January.
“He’s named very appropriately,” Ellis said. “He’s tough, and he seems to thrive on a battle.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Tiz Flirtatious, the winner of the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes last September and five other stakes in her career, is back in training for a campaign in the second half of this year.
On Tuesday at Santa Anita, Tiz Flirtatious breezed three furlongs in 36.60 seconds, her first workout of 2014. Tiz Flirtatious is expected to start during the Del Mar summer meeting, according to trainer Marty Jones.
“She looks really good,” Jones said. “She was just breezing.”
