Tue, 05/07/2013 - 15:31

Churchill Downs: Groupie Doll resumes training

Barbara D. Livingston
Groupie Doll, last year's top female sprinter, resumed training Tuesday at Churchill Downs following a freshening.

Groupie Doll, the 2012 Eclipse female sprint champion, had her first day at Churchill Downs on Tuesday since getting several months off when jogging two miles with Jada Schlenk aboard.

“We brought her in yesterday after all the Derby hoopla was over,” said Buff Bradley, who trains and co-owns the 5-year-old mare with his father, Fred. “Jada said she felt great.”

Groupie Doll had been at the Bradleys’ Indian Ridge Farm since being sent home in early February from Florida, where she was not training to Bradley’s satisfaction.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 15:28

Churchill Downs: $303K super high five carryover livens up day's last race

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The customary parting gift left behind by Kentucky Derby tourists is $303,033, a tidy sum for which everyday horseplayers at Churchill Downs are once again grateful.

Thursday will mark the 10th time in the last 12 years that a major carryover has resulted from the Derby. In preceding years, it was the pick six that eluded Derby bettors, but for the second straight year, it is the last-race super high five offering a potential bonanza.

Post time for the ninth and last race Thursday is 4:59 p.m. Eastern.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 15:26

Churchill Downs: Bind retired after allowance loss

Barbara D. Livingston
Bind has been retired at age 5 with 3 wins from 8 career starts.

Trainer Al Stall Jr. said Bind has been retired after finishing last of nine behind Golden Ticket in a Thursday allowance.

“He’s fine,” Stall said. “It just seems like he doesn’t want to do it anymore, and we’re not going to make him.”

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 15:00

Hollywood Park notes: Broadway Empire to get class test in Came Home

Benoit & Associates
Interaction comes along the inside under Joe Talamo to barely overtake All Squared Away in the Grade 2 San Juan Capistrano.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Broadway Empire won his debut in a six-furlong race for maidens by 16 1/2 lengths and earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure – at Turf Paradise on a Monday in March.

The Phoenix track is not known for producing fast maiden race winners on weekdays, or on any day for that matter, making Broadway Empire’s performance even more stunning.

More will be known about the gelding’s true ability when he makes his stakes debut in the $70,000 Came Home Stakes for 3-year-olds over seven furlongs at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 14:40

Hollywood Park: Esentepe looks for breakthrough win

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Handicappers overestimated Esentepe during the winter-spring meet at Santa Anita, where the European import lost twice as the favorite in turf allowances.

Thursday at Betfair Hollywood Park, she changes surfaces while trying to avoid being labeled a classic underachiever. Esentepe tops the race-7 feature, a main-track allowance that is the richest on the card but from a wagering perspective the least attractive.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 14:27

Hollywood Park: Midnight Lucky bound for Acorn

Barbara D. Livingston
Midnight Lucky will be a far lower price Friday than her 16-1 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager odds.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Midnight Lucky, fifth in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last Friday, will be pointed to the $300,000 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over a mile at Belmont Park on May 27, according to trainer Bob Baffert.

Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, Midnight Lucky was beaten for the first time in her three-race career in the Kentucky Oaks, finishing nine lengths behind upset winner Princess of Sylmar.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 14:26

Churchill Downs notes: Golden Soul eyes Belmont Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Golden Soul, the runner-up in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, will skip the Preakness Stakes but might start in the Belmont Stakes on June 8.

While his former boss, trainer D. Wayne Lukas, and other colleagues make plans for Pimlico, trainer Dallas Stewart is enjoying the afterglow of a Derby in which he saddled the longshot runner-up, Golden Soul.

Stewart said he was “as proud as can be” of the way Golden Soul closed in the final quarter-mile to outfinish Revolutionary, Normandy Invasion, and Mylute for the $400,000 second-place prize.

“Nobody was going to beat the winner [Orb], not the way he ran,” Stewart said. “For a horse who wasn’t even supposed to make the race, we had a pretty good result.”

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 14:06

Golden Gate: Morris has full plate in TOC role

Golden Gate Fields general manager Joe Morris likes to be in the thick of the action, and he’ll have plenty of action in his new job as president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. Morris will assume his new role June 16 after the end of the current Golden Gate Fields meeting.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 13:55

Churchill Downs: Delaunay to get freshening

John Bambury
Delaunay, with Rosie Napravnik riding, wins the Churchill Downs Stakes, bringing his record on Churchill’s main track to 4 for 4.

Delaunay, a four-length winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Derby undercard for owner Maggi Moss, will get a brief respite before undertaking a campaign designed to get him to the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in peak form, trainer Tom Amoss said.

“I wish the Breeders’ Cup was in four weeks,” Amoss said. “It’s not, so we’ll work backward from it and try to figure the best way to get there.”

Delaunay earned a 109 Beyer Speed Figure on Saturday, his sixth straight triple-digit mark.

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 13:47

Belmont Park: Be Bullish brings high Beyers into Corma Ray

Tom Keyser
Be Bullish, an 8-year-old gelding, will make his 68th career start in Thursday's $85,000 Corma Ray overnight stakes at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – A familiar cast of characters reconvenes in Thursday’s $85,000 Corma Ray overnight stakes for older New York-breds, including four horses whom David Jacobson either currently trains or used to train.

Jacobson entered Be Bullish and Uncle T Seven in the seven-furlong race. Two others formerly under his tutelage, Fiddlers Afleet and Ground Force, figure to make their presence felt as well.

Also entered in the competitive sprint were likely favorite Johannesburg Smile; last year’s Hudson Stakes winner, Mine Over Matter; and Cap the Moment.