Wise Dan, the reigning two-time Horse of the Year, had his fourth workout since he returned to training when breezing five furlongs Tuesday in 1:01 over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland.
“He rocked it,” trainer Charlie LoPresti said. “They caught him going out [six furlongs] in 1:13 and change. Everything’s going really well for us.”
LoPresti said he definitely is targeting the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 11 on the Keeneland turf as a comeback spot for the 7-year-old gelding.
Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, who gamely won his 4-year-old debut March 8 in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, will make his next start in the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap on March 29, according to a release from owner Dogwood Stables on Tuesday.
Mike Smith, who rides Intense Holiday in the Louisiana Derby and Fiftyshadesofgold in the Fair Grounds Oaks, has the mount, the release said. Smith rode Palace Malice in the Belmont but wasn’t aboard the colt in his two most recent starts.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Euphrosyne and Please Explain are both candidates for next month’s Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy for 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn, according to their respective trainers, Steve Asmussen and Tom Proctor. Both horses exit the track’s Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee on March 8.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – With a winning 4-year-old debut now under her belt, Close Hatches could see action in a pair of Grade 1 races over the next several months. Trainer Bill Mott said Tuesday that the filly’s upcoming campaign could include the Apple Blossom and Ogden Phipps.
Two of the leading local hopes for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 29 had major workouts for the race Monday, and both Albano and Gold Hawk went fast.
Albano, who finished second by a nose in the Feb. 22 Risen Star Stakes, had a five-furlong, in-company workout that was timed in 59.60 seconds, the fastest of 23 works at the distance Monday.
Gold Hawk, third in the Lecomte and fifth in the Risen Star, had a solo drill, going six furlongs in 1:12, a very fast time for Fair Grounds, particularly on a morning when the track surface wasn’t especially glib.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has lifted a quarantine on two barns at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa., according to a spokeswoman for the department.
The department lifted the quarantine after tests on 74 horses in the barns were negative for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease that has disrupted racing and training at Parx all winter. The horses in the barns were exposed to the virus three weeks ago by a filly who showed signs of the disease before being removed to a private farm.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The heat wave that hit Santa Anita over the weekend affected a couple of runners who suffered from heat exhaustion, including the filly Ann’s Gold, who collapsed near the outside rail after her race Saturday and was tended to by scores of people, from veterinarians to the gate crew and track executives.
Ann’s Gold was in a precarious position. Great care was used to extricate her, and trainer Jack Carava said she was doing well the next day.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Neil Drysdale has won the San Luis Rey Stakes five times and will take aim at a sixth score with a pair of runners when the Grade 2, $200,000 race is run over 1 1/2 miles on turf Saturday at Santa Anita.
Drysdale will send out Lucayan, who comes off a third-place finish in the 1 1/4-mile San Marcos Stakes on Feb. 8, and Fire With Fire, who won the Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile Stakes at Turf Paradise on Jan. 18.
After further review, Wayne Catalano will be running both Solitary Ranger and Poker Player on Saturday in the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes, the annual showcase race at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
Catalano initially was inclined to run only Solitary Ranger, a wire-to-wire winner of the Battaglia Memorial at Turfway, but said Tuesday he also will run Poker Player, who rallied to be second in that same March 1 race.
Things could hardly be better for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
He won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita with Let Faith Arise last Saturday and Grade 1 winner Tamarando was to fly to Kentucky on Wednesday with stablemate Swiss Lake Yodeler for Saturday’s $550,000 Spiral Stakes and the $125,000 Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park. Both 3-year-olds are homebreds for Larry and Marianne Williams and will be competing in races offering 50 qualifying points to the winner for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.
