HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– The Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap will be worth $600,000 each when they are run in April after Oaklawn Park on Friday announced the purse for each would be boosted by $100,000. The Apple Blossom, a mile and a sixteenth race for fillies and mares, will be run April 11, while the Oaklawn Handicap, at a mile and an eighth, is part of the Arkansas Derby closing-day card April 12.
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DRF Past Performances
Though Kiaran McLaughlin’s stable will be represented in Saturday’s $100,000 Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct, it will be with the maiden winner Sustainable and not the Ruthless Stakes winner Mamdooha.
Mamdooha, who has won three consecutive races after losing her debut, is being pointed to the $100,000 Cicada Stakes on March 15, said Art Magnuson, McLaughlin’s New York-based assistant.
“We figured we’d skip one of them, instead of being in all of them, just freshen a little bit,” Magnuson said.
Churchill Downs officials on Thursday released the stakes schedule for the 2014 spring meet, with little change from the status quo and an increase in stakes purses of almost 3 percent.
The 140th Kentucky Derby on May 3 serves as the traditional high point of the meet, which features 24 stakes worth almost $7.7 million in total.
The $2 million Kentucky Derby will culminate a weekend that includes 11 other stakes, most notably the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on May 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In Trouble, whose 2-year-old season was cut short due to a chip in a knee, is working steadily toward his 3-year-old debut, which could come in the Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 2, trainer Tony Dutrow said.
“In a perfect world – and things are pretty close to perfect right now – I’m hoping for the Gotham,” Dutrow said from south Florida, where In Trouble is in training at the Palm Meadows training center.
Vicar’s in Trouble had his first timed workout since he won the Jan. 18 Lecomte by almost seven lengths, breezing a half-mile in company Feb. 2 in 49.40 seconds. Trained by Mike Maker for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, the Louisiana-bred by Into Mischief is an intended starter in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds on Feb. 22.
Trainer Larry Jones probably will have two fillies for the Feb. 22 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, with Cassatt likely to join stablemate and potential favorite Divine Beauty in the Grade 3, $200,000 prep for the $500,000 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 29.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Gentlemen’s Bet and Hogy were among the most exciting prospects for the $100,000 King Cotton at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, but neither ended up in the entry box when the field for the six-furlong race was set on Wednesday.
Gentlemen’s Bet had been expected to make his first start since runnin g third in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, but the promise of more of the winter weather that has gripped Oaklawn the last week led to a decision to pass the race, said trainer Ron Moquett.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 2013 female champions Beholder and She’s a Tiger have returned to Santa Anita after wintertime breaks.
Beholder, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, arrived at trainer Richard Mandella’s stable on Sunday, having been in light training with Julie Adair-Stack at a nearby farm.
Mandella said he does not have an immediate race goal for Beholder, who won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in her last start on Nov. 1.
“She’s already galloped a couple of days,” he said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - There are two stakes on dirt at Santa Anita on Saturday – the $300,000 San Antonio Stakes for older horses over 1 1/8 miles and the $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles. Both will have small fields.
The San Antonio Stakes is expected to be led by 13-time stakes winner Game On Dude, who was second to 2013 champion 3-year-old male Will Take Charge in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Two horses who earned nice checks at the 2013 Breeders’ Cup are among a terrific mix of older horses entered in the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint on Saturday.
Laugh Track, second in the BC Sprint, and Brujo de Olleros, third in the BC Dirt Mile, will square off in a field of 11 that also includes such notables as Jackson Bend, an earner of $1.8 million, and Catron, who has been sensational in winning his first two career starts for Todd Pletcher.