Hoppertunity, the winner of the Rebel Stakes and the runner-up behind California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby, had surgery to remove a bone spur in his ankle this week. Hoppertunity will get 30 days off and then resume light training if all goes well, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday on “At the Races with Steve Byk.”
“We’re going to miss all the major stuff. He’s going to be a good horse in the fall,” Baffert said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday, “I wish I had an excuse” for the sluggish performance of Will Take Charge in the Alysheba Stakes on the Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs.
“I can’t really give him one, other than sometimes these horses just have one of those days,” Lukas said. “We’ll be regrouping and pointing for the Stephen Foster” on June 14 at Churchill.
Will Take Charge, the champion 3-year-old male of 2013, finished sixth of eight as the 3-5 favorite.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Fashion Plate, the winner of consecutive Grade 1 races in California this year, has returned to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable at Santa Anita after finishing 11th in the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last Friday.
Callaghan said Tuesday that Fashion Plate might not be home for long. She is being considered for the $750,000 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over a mile at Belmont Park on June 7.
It took a while, which made Sunday’s front-running victory aboard My Game all the sweeter for apprentice Cesar Salcedo.
The one-length victory in a $5,000 maiden claimer for trainer Gloria Buckridge was the first win for the 22-year-old Salcedo, a native of Anaheim, Calif. It came in his 87th career start and his 13th at Golden Gate.
The Los Alamitos summer Thoroughbred meeting will feature seven stakes, including two Grade 2 races previously run at Hollywood Park under different names.
The track’s summer meeting will run eight days, July 3-13, replacing racing dates previously held by Hollywood Park, which closed for development last December.
The highlight of the Los Alamitos meeting will be the $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby on July 5, a Grade 2 race over 1 1/8 miles. The race was previously run at Hollywood Park as the Swaps Stakes and was worth $150,000 in 2013. The distance is unchanged.
Northern California-based trainer Steve Sherman was at a nice little family get-together over the weekend – in the Churchill Downs winner’s circle after the Kentucky Derby. Sherman is the son of Art Sherman, who won the Kentucky Derby with California Chrome on Saturday.
“That’s the most excited I’ve ever been,” he said. “I haven’t had a feeling like that since my daughter was born.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For some trainers, an 8-for-101 meet isn’t that bad. But for the elite stable of Al Stall Jr., the four months at Fair Grounds in New Orleans this winter were sometimes difficult to get through.
“You just start hoping it’ll turn around for you,” Stall said Tuesday at Churchill Downs. “But sometimes you never know in this game.”
Twenty-six fillies and mares were nominated to Saturday’s $50,000-added Golden Poppy at 1 1/16 miles on the Golden Gate Fields turf. Fourteen 3-year-old males were nominated for Sunday’s $75,000 Alcatraz, which was recently added to the stakes schedule.
Golden Gate also is offering an optional $80,000 claimer at one mile on turf for fillies and mares Thursday, and six nominees to the Golden Poppy were entered in that race: Happybirthdaybaby, Vincenza, Sing and Tell, Rathmoon, Butterfly Soul, and Rathbaun.
Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable’s connections have resolutely declined to try her against males in the Preakness Stakes, but it appears that the Preakness will have a feminine touch nonetheless.
Ria Antonia, who finished sixth in the May 2 Kentucky Oaks, is being pointed to the Preakness on May 17 at Pimlico, owner Ron Paolucci said Tuesday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Seek Again, who came within a head of upsetting Wise Dan in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill, will likely make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan Invitational at Belmont Park on June 7, trainer Bill Mott said Monday.
Mott was pleased with the performance of Seek Again – who had not run since taking the Hollywood Derby last Dec. 1 – and marveled at Wise Dan’s will to win.
