NEW ORLEANS - The closing-day card Sunday is nondescript, with nary a stakes race. The nominal feature is race 7, an optional-claiming turf sprint at about 5 1/2 furlongs for either first-level allowance runners or $17,500 claimers.
Rightous Party and Western Elegance, second and third in a similar first-level allowance sprint March 8, look like the top contenders, assuming the race stays on turf.
ARCADIA, Calif. – While the list of outsiders for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5 continues to grow, trainer Bob Baffert said Friday that he is uncertain which of his Triple Crown hopefuls will run in California’s richest race for 3-year-olds.
A field of seven to nine horses is likely for the Santa Anita Derby, which is run over 1 1/8 miles. The race is led by California Chrome, the winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes March 8, and Candy Boy, who won the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 8.
NEW ORLEANS - It had rained overnight here Thursday, so on Friday morning, trainer Al Stall Jr. stood at the outside rail during the renovation break, examining the track to see if it was in suitable condition to work his top sprinter, Central Banker, who is set to run April 5 in the Grade 1, $500,000 Carter at Aqueduct.
“This is a trainer’s Maalox moment,” he said.
NEW ORLEANS – Mylute was one of the elite 3-year-olds of 2013, and he served notice Thursday that he is ready to count himself among the strong group of older horses still in training with a sharp comeback victory in an optional claimer at Fair Grounds.
“We’ve got big plans for him,” said trainer Tom Amoss, adding that the Grade 3, $300,000 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day, May 2, is the next goal for Mylute.
NEW ORLEANS – A punishing rainstorm caused Fair Grounds to cancel its Friday card in an attempt to have the main track in optimum shape for racing Saturday, when the Louisiana Derby highlights a card that includes four Grade 2 stakes.
The cancellation was announced about an hour before first post. It rained hard late in the morning, and there was considerable standing water just inside the inner turf course rail. The forecast was for more rain throughout the day, but the storm showers are supposed to end Friday night.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Ontario Racing Commission has lifted training restrictions placed on Barn 10 at Woodbine after a single case of equine herpesvirus, or EHV-1, was reported in a 5-year-old filly stabled there March 13.
Horses in Barn 10 are now free to train during regular training hours. The racing commission had limited training for those horses to the end of regular training hours since March 18. Ponies in Barn 10 will still only be allowed to pony horses in Barn 10, however.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 3-year-olds Friendswith K Mill and Twenty Percent, both trained by Doug O’Neill, were among the late nominations for the Triple Crown last week. On Thursday, O’Neill said he considers the pair to be candidates for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17 as opposed to the Kentucky Derby on May 3.
Friendswith K Mill, second in an allowance race at Santa Anita on March 16, could start in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5, but O’Neill said the $200,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 19 is more likely.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There will be no major strategy session between jockey Joe Talamo and trainer Mike Mitchell in the paddock before Saturday’s $75,000 American Beauty Stakes at Santa Anita.
Talamo will ride Fanticola for Mitchell, who said the less coaching he does, the better the situation may turn out.
“I won’t say anything to Joe,” Mitchell said Thursday. “If he wants to use her a bit, he can.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It speaks to the depth of his roster of 3-year-old fillies that trainer Todd Pletcher could lose two of his top prospects and still have several contenders for the Kentucky Oaks, a race he won last year with Princess of Sylmar.
In Tune, the winner of her first two starts here this winter, will try to punch her ticket to the Oaks when she makes her stakes debut against seven rivals in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Oaks. The Gulfstream Oaks is one of seven undercard stakes on the 14-race program highlighted by the $1 million Florida Derby.
