LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans does not dispute that if someone had cut him a deal a long time ago – that if in one glorious year his horses were to win 20 graded stakes and nearly $12 million and he would be voted the Eclipse Award for top trainer – then, yes, he would gladly accept a major downturn the following year.
“I would’ve agreed to that, sure,” he said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Coffee Clique and Overheard, both coming off solid efforts in turf stakes in the United States, deserve serious attention in a solid field for Sunday’s Selene Stakes at Woodbine.
Coffee Clique, who is trained by Brian Lynch, and Overheard, conditioned by Malcolm Pierce, each recorded her first career victory here last fall on Polytrack and will be returning to that surface for the Grade 3 Selene at 1 1/16 miles.
Coffee Clique’s local success came in her debut last Dec. 2.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Some of the first-level allowance races held so far at the Churchill Downs spring meet have been thin, both in numbers and talent. Happily for horseplayers, the exact opposite is the case with a $52,000 sprint that goes as the ninth of 10 Sunday races.
“It looks a lot tougher than the way they’ve been coming up,” said Randy Morse.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It was somewhat surprising that the talented but quirky Spring Venture missed out on Canadian champion 2-year-old filly honors last year to her accomplished stablemate, Spring in the Air.
Spring Venture will try to build her case for this year’s champion 3-year-old filly in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Selene Stakes. For the Canadian-breds in the field, the 1 1/16-mile event is a prep for the June 9 Woodbine Oaks, for which Kentucky-bred Spring Venture is ineligible.
Trainer Stanley Roberts was taken to a Bossier City, La., hospital Thursday afternoon following an accident in the Louisiana Downs paddock. Roberts was saddling Ollie Baby for the day’s fourth race with the horse flipped in his stall, injuring Roberts.
Jockey agent Ronald Ardoin, who accompanied Roberts to the hospital, said Roberts was had considerable pain in the neck area but had responded to sedation. Roberts was undergoing X-rays shortly before 4 p.m. local time.
Saturday’s Lone Star Park allowance feature at a mile on turf has all the makings of a good, old-fashioned Texas shootout.
In one corner is Coyote Legend, a 17-time winner who does not appear to have lost a step, having won three of his last four starts. In the other is Skip a Smile, who has won 11 times, including his last two in stakes company over the winter at Sam Houston.
The two biggest names in Texas racing train the pair. Bret Calhoun conditions Coyote Legend while all-time Lone Star training leader Steve Asmussen trains Skip a Smile.
Amanecer de Oro, last seen chasing the pace in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park last month before coming up empty in the drive, returns to his favorite oval Saturday, as he leads a quality group of allowance sprinters in the featured race at Louisiana Downs.
The six-furlong race drew a field of seven and carries a $25,000 purse, with another $5,000 available to accredited Louisiana-breds.
Sweet Emma Rose might be a filly taking on colts in the $100,000 Rollicking, but she brings the flashiest form into the five-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds. The race is one of seven stakes on the Preakness card Saturday at Pimlico.
Sweet Emma Rose made her debut at Keeneland on April 5 and romped by nine lengths in a maiden special weight. She broke on top in the 4 1/2-furlong race and increased her margin at every call to deliver as the odds-on favorite. In the Rollicking, Sweet Emma Rose will attempt to transfer that good form to dirt, as the maiden score came on Polytrack.
Heat Press, whose name had been bandied about as a potential Preakness starter, instead will make his turf debut on the Preakness undercard in the $100,000 James W. Murphy. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds drew a field of 11, including multiple stakes winner Notacatbutallama, who invades from Belmont Park for Repole Stable and trainer Todd Pletcher.
