LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wise Dan will break from the outside post in a field of just five older turf horses when making his first start since being named the 2012 Horse of the Year in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile on Friday at Keeneland.
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Will Take Charge, who won the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel at Oaklawn Park in his last start March 16, will train up to the Kentucky Derby, his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, said on Tuesday. Lukas had been debating training up to the May 4 race or running in the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass at Keeneland on Saturday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The field for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby was starting to grow Monday, with Falling Sky and Frac Daddy committing to the 1 1/8-mile race and Demonic’s connections debating a start in the Saturday stakes, which closes out the Oaklawn meet.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Rose to Gold has been nearly perfect in dirt routes in a record that should make her a strong favorite to win the fifth stakes race of her young career Wednesday in the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn.
The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies is Rose to Gold’s final prep for the Kentucky Oaks, the May 3 race she has been pointed to since winning last fall’s Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess.
“If all goes well, we’ll run in the Oaks,” trainer Sal Santoro said. “That’s the plan right now.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Big Screen worked four furlongs in 48.81 seconds Monday morning over Belmont Park’s main track, his first breeze since winning a second-level allowance race at Aqueduct on March 23 by 9 1/4 lengths.
Big Screen, a 4-year-old son of Speightstown, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester at Belmont on April 27.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - West Hills Giant, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes here on March 2, appears fully recovered from the respiratory infection that forced him to miss a workout a few weeks ago and last Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial.
On Monday, West Hills Giant drilled five furlongs in 1:00.47 on the Belmont training track under exercise rider Simon Harris, and later that afternoon was put on a van bound for Lexington, Ky., and Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Bill Mott was back in south Florida late Saturday, but the Hall of Fame trainer certainly had to have Kentucky on his mind after winning two major prep races for the May 3 Kentucky Oaks in a 45-minute span Saturday afternoon.
At Aqueduct, Close Hatches kept her undefeated record intact with a 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Gazelle. At Keeneland, Emollient, running back one week after losing the Gulfstream Oaks by 30 lengths, romped to a nine-length victory in the Grade 1 Ashland over Keeneland’s Polytrack.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Marty Wolfson wasn’t nearly as surprised by Swagger Jack winning Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct as was the betting public, which sent him off at a generous 15-1.
Swagger Jack had finished second with what Wolfson felt were legitimate excuses in a pair of graded stakes at Gulfstream to Carter candidates Discreet Dancer and Fort Loudon, so he thought it was worth taking a shot in the Carter. He was rewarded when Swagger Jack rallied from fifth and beat Sahara Sky by three-quarters of a length.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Joel Rosario wasted little time in making it known that he is a serious threat to snap the five-meet streak that Julien Leparoux has amassed as leading jockey here.
Rosario, riding his first full Keeneland meet, had four winners on the nine-race Sunday card to take the early lead atop the jockey standings even after missing Saturday to ride in New York.
Rocco due back after illness
Trainer Charlie LoPresti is calling on Jose Lezcano to ride Wise Dan again when the 2012 Horse of the Year makes his 6-year-old debut Friday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile.
Lezcano will be filling in again for John Velazquez, who suffered what has been reported as “minor fractures” in a spill Sunday at Aqueduct. Last fall, Lezcano gave Wise Dan a flawless ride here in winning the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile, a race that Velazquez missed because of a scheduling conflict. It was the only time Lezcano has ridden Wise Dan in the gelding’s 20-race career.