Skelly has returned to Oaklawn after running second in the Group 3, $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, according to his trainer, Steve Asmussen. Plans call for the top-class runner to defend his title in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 13.
“Skelly’s here at Oaklawn,” Asmussen said Tuesday. “He’s back training regularly and we think the Count Fleet, we’ll be ready for it.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Back in February 2016, a Colonel John filly named Ma’am won her maiden at Oaklawn Park.
Fast forward to February 2024 and her first foal, Mystik Dan, was a dominant winner of the track’s Grade 3, $800,000 Southwest Stakes.
The performance has made Mystik Dan one of the top choices for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday in what has been a meaningful journey for a group of breeders and owners born and raised in Arkansas.
The New York Racing Association will host a new $150,000 steeplechase race during its Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, to be run this year on June 9 at Saratoga Race Course, the association announced on Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Flavien Prat has one more day of mounts at Santa Anita before making his annual springtime move to Kentucky.
Prat is booked to ride Thursday through Saturday at Oaklawn Park, including Timberlake in Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, and will ride at Santa Anita next Sunday, according to his agent Brad Pegram.
Prat will be based at Keeneland when that track begins its spring meeting on April 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Johannes, a two-time stakes winner in 2023, will start in Sunday’s Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita as a prep for major goals later this spring.
Johannes won his first three starts on turf in late 2022 and early 2023 before finishing fifth by two lengths in the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs last May, his most recent start.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With three wins in five starts, a stakes victory over the track, and a last-out Beyer Speed Figure as good as all but one rival in the field, trainer Jack Sisterson believes there is no reason not to give Seminole Chief the opportunity to vie for a $1 million purse and some of the 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Jody’s Pride have altered course and will now run their 3-year-old filly in the Grade 1, $600,000 Ashland Stakes on April 5 at Keeneland rather than the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle at Aqueduct the following day.
Jody’s Pride is coming off a 2 1/4-length victory in the Busher Stakes on March 2 at Aqueduct, her third victory in four career starts. The allure of a Grade 1 opportunity and a larger purse were the primary reasons for the change of plans.
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Timberlake, a leading hope for the Kentucky Derby, had his last work for the Arkansas Derby on March 30 when he breezed a strong five furlongs Saturday at Fair Grounds.
Working outside Big To Do, a Fair Grounds debut maiden winner March 1, Timberlake was timed by trainer Brad Cox in 1:00.40 to the wire, galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.40 and seven furlongs 1:27.20 – and leaving his trainer in a state of relative exuberance.
“It was a very, very, very good work,” Cox said later Saturday morning.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Several potential starters for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby got in their final works for the race on Friday, including Hades and Fierceness, who finished first and third, respectively, in the Grade 3 Holy Bull earlier this winter.
At Gulfstream Park, Hades open-galloped a half-mile before breezing another easy half-mile in 50.21 seconds over a dry and very cuppy racetrack while finishing into a stiff headwind down the stretch. His regular work rider, Ray Ganpath, was in the saddle.
