Tue, 05/14/2013 - 15:30

Belmont Park: Pacific Ocean faces test in grass debut

Barbara D. Livingston
Pacific Ocean will be on turf for the first time in his seasonal debut for a new trainer, Michelle Nihei.

The worlds of graded sprint stakes winners on dirt, turf .and synthetic collide when Pacific Ocean, Next Question, and Hoofit clash in Thursday’s $85,000 Around the Cape overnight stakes.

A field of 10 older males entered the six-furlong dash scheduled for the inner turf.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:58

Churchill Downs: Maker manages to remain white-hot wherever his horses run

Barbara D. Livingston
Mike Maker has had late-blooming Derby runners the last two years. Hansen enters 2012 as last year’s 2-year-old champion.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A lull was supposed to follow Mike Maker after he set a record that figures to stand for many years at Keeneland last month.

Scratch that.

Maker has continued on a tear, winning with 8 of his first 17 starters at the Churchill Downs spring meet while also winning 4 of 11 at Belmont Park. Those numbers follow the gaudy 25 for 76 he posted when setting a record for most wins by a trainer at a Keeneland meet.

The absurdity of the repetitiveness might well have been illustrated best Sunday at Churchill.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:29

Golden Gate Fields: Baze could reach 12,000 wins this summer

When Russell Baze surpassed Laffit Pincay Jr. as the world’s winningest rider on Dec. 1, 2006, the prevailing question was how high would he take the mark. His longtime agent Ray Harris floated 12,000 as a realistic goal. And Harris’s prognosticating acumen is as good as his ability to pick winners for Baze to ride.

Baze has 11,932 victories going into Thursday’s Golden Gate Fields card. At his current rate, he should reach 12,000 during the Sonoma County Fair at Santa Rosa shortly before his 55th birthday on Aug. 7. Baze got victory No. 11,000 there on Aug. 14, 2010.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:28

Lone Star Park: More ground suits Dancin’ Lil

Dancin’ Lil is bred to make good use of the added ground she picks up in Thursday night’s third race at Lone Star Park. The first-level allowance for 3- and 4-year-old fillies will be run over 6 1/2 furlongs. A field of five will go, including Double Tapped, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Paddy O’Prado.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:22

Hollywood Park: Warren's Flasher looks to impress again on turf

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Trainer Jorge Gutierrez was confident that dirt filly Warren’s Flasher would perform better on turf, though he underestimated the extent of her improvement.

Having trained her full sister – maiden turf specialist Warren’s Cracker – Gutierrez was dealing on pedigree information when he moved up Warren’s Flasher from a maiden-claiming dirt sprint to a starter-allowance turf route.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:11

Hollywood Park: Jeranimo headed to Shoemaker Mile

Benoit & Associates
Jeranimo won the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile in 2012.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Jeranimo, a six-time stakes winner who was seventh in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 4, has returned to trainer Mike Pender’s California stable and is being pointed to the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile at Betfair Hollywood Park on June 30.

Jeranimo won the Grade 1 Shoemaker in 2012, his only win at that level.

“We’ll try to defend his title in the Shoemaker,” Pender said.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:09

Louisiana Downs: Watch My Smoke to make rare grass start in Thursday allowance

Lynn Roberts/Hodges Photography
Lee's Spirit (outside), who won the Costa Rising Stakes at Fair Grounds last out in March, returns Thursday in an allowance at Louisiana Downs.

The distance of Thursday’s fifth race at Louisiana Downs, as well as the current profile of the track’s turf course, are among the reasons Watch My Smoke will make a rare start on grass in an allowance for 3-year-olds and up at about a mile. He is part of an eight-horse field that includes stakes winners Lee’s Spirit and Heavenville.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 13:30

Preakness: O'Neill alters training for Goldencents to what worked earlier

Barbara D. Livingston
Goldencents gallops a mile Tuesday at Pimlico with regular rider Kevin Krigger aboard.

BALTIMORE – Orb’s triumph in the Kentucky Derby was viewed by some as a victory for the old-school training methods of Shug McGaughey.

When it comes to Goldencents, trainer Doug O’Neill – who won last year’s Derby and Preakness with I’ll Have Another – is employing some old-school methods of his own. As in two months old.

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 13:26

Calder: Gold happy to have Jackson Bend back in barn

Laura Villasana/Coady Photography
Grade 1 winner Jackson Bend is back in trainer Stanley Gold's barn after a brief stint as a stallion and is targeting the June 8 Ponche Handicap at Calder.

MIAMI – Trainer Stanley Gold doesn’t know all the particulars regarding Jackson Bend’s mishap last summer at Saratoga, which led to his premature retirement in October, or what exactly transpired during his brief visit to the breeding shed, which ultimately resulted in the Grade 1 winner being put back into training this spring. And he’s not asking, either.

Mon, 05/13/2013 - 20:14

Presque Isle Downs: Dan the Tin Man powers home to win Tom Ridge

Coady Photography
Dan the Tin Man, with Scott Spieth riding, wins the Tom Ridge by two lengths.

Dan the Tin Man stayed just off the early pace while on the outside in the $100,000 Tom Ridge on Monday night before exploding into the stretch to win the six-furlong event at Presque Isle Downs.

Jockey Scott Spieth had a good hold on the Ricky Griffith-trained 3-year-old going down the backstretch. Spieth asked Dan the Tin Man on the turn, and he responded, drawing clear by two lengths in the stretch.