INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Breeder Terry Lovingier swept the first two juvenile races in Southern California on Thursday and Friday with the filly Pay the Debt and the colt Time for a Hug at Hollywood Park.
The win from Time for a Hug in a maiden race for California-breds on Friday was the first winner for Lovingier’s stallion Time to Get Even, who stands at his Lovacres Ranch near Warner Springs, Calif.
Isn’t He Clever, who had been pointing toward the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star, was forced to miss the race and is now targeting the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap on May 27, trainer Henry Dominguez said.
“He had a minor setback, and we didn’t get to enter in the race [Wednesday],” Dominguez said of the Texas Mile. “We didn’t think he was 100 percent. He’s just now getting there. We had to skip it, but hopefully we’ll be fine for the Lone Star Park Handicap.”
Isn’t He Clever on Friday worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.80 at Lone Star.
Todd Pletcher has several fillies slated for next Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, headed by Dreaming of Julia and Unlimited Budget, but said that Princess of Sylmar’s status was hinging on her performance in her final workout this weekend, likely Saturday.
Pletcher said Princess of Sylmar “was fighting the track” in her previous work at Churchill Downs, and he wanted to make sure she was comfortable over this surface.
“Her last work wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what we’re used to seeing from her,” Pletcher said.
Abreu recovering from heel surgery
Penn National bulked up its 2013 stakes lineup by adding five stakes for Pennsylvania-bred or Pennsylvania-sired horses, including two on its biggest night of the racing season.
The track in central Pennsylvania near Hershey announced Friday that the newly created E Dubai Stakes for 3-year-olds and up and the Silver Train Stakes for fillies and mares will be included on the June 1 six-stakes program headed by the inaugural running of the $500,000 Penn Mile. The restricted stakes will be worth $60,000 apiece and will be contested at six furlongs on the main track.
Trainer Shug McGaughey altered Florida Derby winner Orb’s training schedule on Friday, sending him out during the Derby/Oaks training session at Churchill Downs instead of at 6 a.m. as he had the previous two days. Part of the reason for the switch was to give Orb an opportunity to visit the starting gate in the midst of his 1 1/2-mile gallop.
[DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with odds and video]
Although he worked Friday in a conventional bit at Churchill Downs, Vyjack has done all his training locally in a hackamore, a head piece that does not contain a bit but has a special type of noseband that helps a rider exert a little more control over a horse.
[DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with odds and video]
AUBURN, Wash. – In the midst of a big winter at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Jeff Metz began scouting around for a place to spend his summer. The trainer had been to Arapahoe in previous summers and wasn’t interested in going back. Nor was he inclined to follow the herd to Canterbury to chase its pumped-up purses.
Metz settled on Emerald Downs, arriving in March with 25 horses in tow, and judging by his performance during the opening week of the meeting, he might be inclined to stick around for a while.
[bc_video_id:290504:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With Kentucky Derby Day just more than a week away and rain in the forecast for the weekend, workout activity began to pick up at Churchill Downs on Friday. Three potential Derby starters, including the once-beaten Vyjack, breezed during the special session following the renovation break, with at least a half-dozen more works now on the schedule for Saturday.[:slideshow-right:]
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Garrett Gomez left California on Thursday evening for a week of riding in Kentucky, fresh off an ideal start on the opening day of the Betfair Hollywood Park meeting.
Gomez rode two winners from six mounts on Thursday, including Summer Exclusive in the $73,600 Harry Henson Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters.
Next week, Gomez has big mounts in several top races at Churchill Downs, notably Beholder in the Kentucky Oaks and Vyjack in the Kentucky Derby.
“I’m hoping for some good luck,” Gomez said.
Silverette, who showed considerable promise early in her 3-year-old season, makes her second start back from a layoff as the likely favorite in Sunday’s $85,000 Gold Princess overnight stakes, which is carded as race 3 on a 10-race program.
The even-money choice on the morning line, Silverette drew post 2 and will take on Enchante, Expression, Munnings Sister, Ode to Sami, and Well Kept in the six-furlong race for older fillies and mares. All starters carry 118 pounds.
