LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Phipps family has enjoyed so much success in Thoroughbred racing that it wouldn’t be right to lament the ones who got away.
Yes, Gladys Mills Phipps – the grandmother of Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps – owned Seabiscuit before he became a cult hero. And yes, there was that infamous coin flip that went the wrong way, leaving the Phipps family with a filly named The Bride and Penny Chenery with the beast who became Secretariat.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Authenticity outdueled On Fire Baby through a stirring stretch drive at Churchill Downs to win Friday’s $300,000 La Troienne Stakes by a head in a result that to trainer Todd Pletcher had far more reaching ramifications than simply winning a Grade 2 race.
“This is a big win for us for a number of reasons,” Pletcher said while walking to the winner’s circle. “This filly has been breezing with Verrazano, to me that’s key; Johnny [Velazquez] comes back and looks like he’s in form, that’s key; and winning a big race in its own right.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When trainer Shug McGaughey left New York late last year for his winter base in Florida, Orb owned only a maiden win, and McGaughey figured Orb would likely return to New York in the spring with, perhaps, having added an allowance win to his resume.
“At the beginning of the year, I had no idea I’d be standing here, none whatsoever,” McGaughey said.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – If Stormy Canuck comes back as good as he left off, he should be tough to handle in a $25,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up that serves as Sunday’s feature at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew 12 horses, but only 11 will be allowed to run, so Full Power Ahead will need a scratch in order to run.
Trained by Mark Cloutier, Stormy Canuck closed out 2012 with a second-place finish going six furlongs in the $50,000 Express. The winner, Herbie D, was voted the champion sprinter in British Columbia last year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The special 15-minute Kentucky Derby/Oaks training session was advanced nearly three hours Friday to 5:45 a.m., the time at which the Churchill Downs racetrack regularly opens each morning, to accommodate the change in the training schedule resulting from the early post time on Oaks Day. The Derby and Oaks horses had been allotted an exclusive 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. time slot in which to train for the past two weeks. The track closed for training Friday at 8 a.m.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Black Onyx, the winner of the Spiral Stakes, was scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby on Friday when X-rays revealed a chip in his left front ankle, trainer Kelly Breen said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With Weather.com forecasting a 50 percent chance of showers Saturday in Louisville, as of this writing early Friday morning, there is the possibility for a wet track on Kentucky Derby Day.
Should that scenario unfold, which horses stand to benefit if rain results in the Derby being run on a sloppy or muddy track? Based on their past performances: Itsmyluckyday and Vyjack, stakes winners over such surfaces, and Palace Malice, who finished second in a fast allowance race over a sloppy surface.
Dr. Larry Bramlage, the equine orthopedic surgeon who was injured in a fall on Thursday on the Churchill Downs backside, will remain in the hospital on Friday for “continued observation,” according to Dr. Mary Scollay, a colleague of Bramlage and the equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Fear the Kitten, the lone also-eligible in Saturday's Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, was officially withdrawn at scratch time Friday morning because none of the 20 horses in the main body of the race was scratched.
Dr. Larry Bramlage, the equine surgeon, was taken to a Louisville, Ky., hospital on Thursday afternoon after falling off the back of a golf cart in the Churchill Downs stable area and suffering a head injury, according to a witness to the accident.
Mike Maker, a trainer, said that Bramlage was thrown from the golf cart after the vehicle performed a U-turn. Maker said he was approximately 20 yards from the accident when it occurred.
