OZONE PARK, N.Y. – David Jacobson, who has become the dominant trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit, will have a string of horses at Monmouth Park this summer, he said Wednesday.
Jacobson said NYRA officials plan to limit the number of horses trainers may have stabled at one New York track, prompting the need to send horses out of town. He said he will have 35 horses at Monmouth while maintaining a full barn at Aqueduct.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although there is little doubt the big favorite will be Untapable, the supporting cast for the 140th Kentucky Oaks is still taking shape as time dwindles toward entry day on Tuesday.
The connections of Room Service and Sweet Reason were debating whether to run their fillies in the May 2 Oaks, and if neither goes, Thank You Marylou and Empress of Midway (in that order) can make the lineup. The Oaks field is limited to 14, with an also-eligibles list of up to four more.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Anniversary Kitty will be asked to try something new in Saturday’s $250,000 Melair Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita. She will race on dirt for the first time in the race over 1 1/16 miles. The lucrative purse was a deciding factor in giving the surface a try, trainer Craig Dollase said.
“For that kind of money, it’s worth taking a shot,” he said.
Delta Downs in Vinton, La., opens a 46-date Quarter Horse meet Friday night, with the Lee Berwick Futurity, a restricted Grade 1 race that last year was worth more than $560,000, again serving as the season’s centerpiece. The 350-yard race for 2-year-olds bred in Louisiana will be held on the closing-night card July 12. Trials are June 21.
Delta will race Wednesdays through Saturdays, with a nightly first post of 6:15 Central.
He’s got the winner of the Louisiana Derby, a colt who was both runner-up in the Fountain of Youth and a close third in the Florida Derby, and a longshot, yet Mike Maker might be the least-known big-time trainer in this year’s Kentucky Derby.
Only Todd Pletcher, who has four horses in the current field of 20, has more prospective starters in the May 3 Derby than Maker. Both were born into the sport, with fathers who trained; both worked under D. Wayne Lukas before striking out on their own; and both will be sending out Derby starters owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey.
The Whitney Handicap Invitational had its purse doubled to $1.5 million and is the centerpiece of an enhanced early meet program that rivals Travers Day on the Saratoga stakes calendar released Wednesday by the New York Racing Association.
For the fourth year in a row, Hudson Landing will enter the starting gate for Saturday’s $100,000, Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields. Owner Jared Chappell and trainer Blaine Wright hope the 7-year-old Maria’s Mon gelding can wake up the echoes.
In 2012, after claiming Hudson Landing for $50,000 from trainer Bill Morey Jr. and the JC Racing Stable two months earlier, Chappell watched Hudson Landing hold off the favored Jeranimo to win by a half-length. The victory was Wright’s first in a graded stakes. It was just as special for Chappell.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 15-minute period immediately after the renovation break, between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m., is reserved each morning at Churchill Downs during the two weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby for horses under consideration for the Derby or Kentucky Oaks. That session seemed even more exclusive than usual Tuesday, with only a limited number of horses from those races on the grounds.
Tuesday at Churchill Downs
63 degrees, cloudy, fast
