Touchuponastar ran his Delta Downs record to 5 for 5 with his win in the $150,000 Louisiana Premier Night Championship on Feb. 3 to cap an outstanding run at the meet that closes Feb. 24.
Touchuponastar earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 101, the highest number of the current stand in which he owns the top three Beyers. Touchuponastar earned a 97 Beyer for his win in the Oct. 6 Gold Cup and a 95 for his victory in the Nov. 3 Delta Downs Mile.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Stakes-placed runners Tejon Pass and Time for Truth are both potential new shooters for the 3-year-old series at Oaklawn Park, as the pair are under serious consideration for the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel Stakes on Feb. 24.
Tejon Pass worked six furlongs on Tuesday, going in 1:15 in company in the mud. The son of Justify and five-time graded winner Foxysox was a maiden special weight winner at Santa Anita and also ran third to Nysos in the Grade 3 Bob Hope back home at Del Mar. He’s now with trainer Peter Miller’s division at Oaklawn.
Ova Charged, moving from dirt to turf, turned in the best race of her career Tuesday at Fair Grounds, contesting a fast early pace before drawing clear for a 5 1/4-length win over the accomplished race favorite Oeuvre in the $100,000 Mardi Gras Stakes.
Ova Charged ran about 5 1/2 furlongs over a good course in 1:03.66 and earned a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
Given his depth in the division, Todd Pletcher does not have an easy time finding suitable spots for his phalanx of 3-year-olds. Thus, he was shipping five of them mid-week from his winter base at Palm Beach Downs to run in races Saturday at Fair Grounds.
When Nash came to Fair Grounds in early December following a sharp second at Keeneland sprinting in his career debut and a blowout two-turn Churchill Downs maiden win that earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure, his connections, Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox, must have figured the colt could be racing on the Risen Star Stakes card in February. He is, but not in the Risen Star.
Domestic Product, runner-up to Hades in the Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park, will most likely make his next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby on March 9, trainer Chad Brown said this week.
Brown believes Domestic Product is the type of horse who will benefit from more racing and by running in the Tampa Bay Derby, which allows him to run him back once more before a potential start in the Kentucky Derby.
In early January, his horse gearing up for his first timed workout following a post-Breeders’ Cup respite, trainer Brad Cox said everything would have to go right with Timberlake for the colt to make his 3-year-old debut in the Rebel Stakes.
So far, everything has gone right, and Timberlake is on target to race Feb. 24 at Oaklawn Park in the Rebel.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Brickyard Ride, the blazingly fast California-bred who won eight stakes at Santa Anita including three graded races, has been retired at age 7.
Owned and bred by Sonny Pais and trained his entire career by Craig Lewis, Brickyard Ride is from the first crop by prominent California stallion Clubhouse Ride. Brickyard Ride won 13 races and $925,477 from 31 starts and retires as the leading earner by Clubhouse Ride, also trained by Lewis.
Locked, the 3-year-old colt who does not yet have a next start mapped out for him, has been made the 10-1 morning-line favorite among individual betting interests in the fourth Kentucky Derby future wager, which will open on Friday at noon.
The overall favorite is the “all others” entry, which comprises all 3-year-olds in the U.S. other than the 39 individual interests in the pool. The “all others” entry, which was favored in all three of the preceding future wager pools, is listed at 2-1.
