The Only Key won a $20,000 claiming race on turf at Golden Gate Fields on Jan. 13. Three months later, she starts in Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap on turf, with an excellent chance to finish in the top three in the Grade 2 race over 1 1/4 miles.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Live Lively has been declared out of the Kentucky Oaks, clearing a spot on the eligibility list for Pure Fun and pretty much firming up the lineup for the May 3 filly classic at Churchill Downs.
Live Lively, a distant second in the March 30 Gulfstream Park Oaks to Dreaming of Julia, will be pointed instead to the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on the May 17 Preakness eve card at Pimlico, trainer Mark Hennig said Wednesday via Twitter.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Clockers at Santa Anita timed Kentucky Derby hopeful Goldencents working a half-mile in 48.40 seconds on Wednesday.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said that was only part of the story, that Goldencents worked six furlongs in 1:14.40.
ARCADIA, Calif. – When Atta Girl Alma started her career in January, trainer Richard Baltas took his typical approach with a young horse. He thought the 3-year-old filly would improve with racing.
After finishing fifth and third in maiden races in January, Atta Girl Alma had better results as the season continued, finishing second in her turf debut in February and winning a maiden race on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on March 24.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Five days after successfully bringing Street Game back off a six-month layoff, trainer Phil Serpe will try to do the same with Shrewd One, who competes in a stakes-caliber allowance race that serves as Friday’s feature at Aqueduct.
Like Street Game – who won Sunday’s Dave Stakes – Shrewd One hasn’t run since Oct. 20, finishing third in the Hudson Stakes at Belmont Park.
Shrewd One wintered in south Florida, but didn’t get ready in time to run in a race at Gulfstream Park.
Bad Fast will be the 2-year-old Quarter Horse filly to beat at Los Alamitos in coming weeks.
Last Saturday, Bad Fast won her debut in a 300-yard maiden race by an eye-catching 3 1/4 lengths, in 15.54 seconds. The victory will make her a favorite in a division of the time trials for the Kindergarten Futurity on May 5, if owners Cesar Lopez and trainer Jim Hanson choose to run her in the first futurity of the year in Southern California.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Entertainment Group, heading into Saturday’s opening day of the 2013 Thoroughbred meeting, is facing challenges like none it has ever faced before.
With the slots-at-racetracks program having expired March 31, Woodbine must deal with the loss of some $60 million in annual revenue, based on its 10 percent share of the proceeds from 3,000 machines here. The horsemen also received 10 percent, for purses.
ALTOONA, Iowa – With the local horse population reaching 1,000 on Wednesday as shippers from tracks such as Oaklawn Park and Sunland Park flow into town, Prairie Meadows is readying for the Friday evening opener of its Thoroughbred meet.
The 67-date meet, with racing conducted Thursdays to Sundays, runs through Aug. 10 and will offer average daily purses of just more than $230,000.
Fort Erie Racetrack, which will begin its 50-day meeting May 26, has made an application to the Ontario Racing Commission to run the Prince of Wales Stakes on a Tuesday rather than the Sunday that has been the norm for many years.
The proposed date would be July 30, according to Jim Thibert, chief executive officer of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium.
Fort Erie’s Tuesday cards will begin at 4:15 p.m., and the Prince of Wales, which is the second leg of the Triple Crown for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, would be run at approximately 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
