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.
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.
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.
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.
Trainer Greg Geier is making plans for his pair of talented Jim Tafel homebred 3-year-olds, Fordubai and Street Spice, both of whom were being considered for the Preakness in recent weeks.
Fordubai, second in the Illinois Derby, might have gone to the Triple Crown’s second leg had he not developed a cough that forced Geier to skip a scheduled workout two weekends ago. But Fordubai worked an easy five-eighths last weekend and is on track, Geier said, to start on turf in the Arlington Classic on May 25.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Retreive, who won a first-level allowance race by 3 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park on Friday, will likely point to the Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes here on Belmont Stakes Day, trainer Jeremiah Englehart said.
Retreive, who was favored against Verrazano when Verrazano won his debut at Gulfstream on New Year’s Day, won Friday’s race by 3 3/4 lengths and covered six furlongs in 1:08.87. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Vyjack, the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes winner and 18th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, was withdrawn from consideration from Saturday’s Preakness Stakes for a summer campaign that could include the turf, owner David Wilkenfeld said.
Wilkenfeld said that Vyjack lost some weight out of the Derby, which is why he and trainer Rudy Rodriguez opted to skip the Preakness.
Wilkenfeld said all options are open for Vyjack – including the Belmont Stakes – but he also indicated that he would like to try the gelding on the grass at some point.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Rydilluc, fourth in the Blue Grass Stakes in attempting to make a last-ditch effort to crack the Kentucky Derby field, worked a mile in 1:43.76 over the Belmont main track Monday.
Rydilluc alternated on the lead with a workmate, Old School, before finishing well ahead of that one at the wire. Rydilluc went off a slow five-eighths in 1:06.88 while finishing the move in a respectable 36.88.
Trainer Gary Contessa said last week that he is pointing Rydilluc to the $500,000 Penn Mile, a one-mile turf race at Penn National on June 1.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It was unseasonably cold this past weekend at Arlington Park, and at low temperatures, Arlington’s Polytrack tends to play fastest. Right on cue, raw times in main-track races quickened.
But even accounting for the speed of the track, Beyer Speed Figure-makers tabbed two winners from the weekend’s racing as particularly fast. Work All Week earned a 102 Beyer in winning a first-level allowance Saturday, and Saint Leon did even better Sunday, with his three-length, third-level allowance victory producing a 107.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Before trainer Shug McGaughey put Orb on a van bound for Baltimore, he sent out his multiple Grade 1-winning turf star Point of Entry for a half-mile work on the dirt at Belmont Park.
Point of Entry, a bit eager going to the pole, went four furlongs in 49.25.
Point of Entry scratched out of the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic because of the soft turf and is now being pointed to the Grade 1 Manhattan on Belmont Stakes Day (June 8).
