Sunny Desert, who was just under 2-5 when she won a division of the New York Stallion Series on the main track last fall, figures to be a similar price against four rival New York-bred fillies and mares in Saturday’s $75,000 Broadway Stakes.
Sunny Desert breaks from the rail in the six-furlong race and shoulders 123 pounds, spotting four to six pounds to Nicole’s Miss El, Lady On the Run, Here’s Zealicious, and Clear Pasaj.
Arlington Park is seeking to reach a horsemen’s agreement for its upcoming 2013 meet with an organization representing owners and breeders instead of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Illinois racing officials said Thursday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Her retirement put on hold, Successful Song will try secure her first graded stakes victory Saturday when she runs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Slander used a strong late rally to upset a tough group of allowance foes on the turf in her first start of the Tampa meeting in December. She looks well-placed to win her third race locally on Saturday when she heads a field of nine female turf runners in a one-mile, second-level optional claiming race.
Fernando De La Cruz, who has been aboard Slander in all four of her outings this meet, returns for veteran conditioner Forrest Kaelin.
Let’s face it, of all the ages and inclinations that categorize the Thoroughbred racehorse, it is the 3-year-old colts who do most of the heavy lifting, both in terms of public awareness and economic impact.
Another bunch of them will assemble Saturday, April 6, for the latest version of the Santa Anita Derby, for which the total purse is $750,000, the distance is 1 1/8 miles, and the consequences are considerable. Failure is not only an option, it is a certainty for all but one.
Over soggy, over a quagmire, or over a chewed-up mess, Optimizer has running on his mind once on the grass.
“He’s a warrior,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said of Optimizer, the emerging turf star who will be a solid favorite Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap on the Louisiana Derby undercard. “That son of a gun shows up every time.”
[LOUISIANA DERBY: Get Fair Grounds PPs, watch video previews]
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With a race under her belt, a little added distance, and a five-pound shift in the weights, Dreaming of Julia may be poised to turn the tables on Live Lively when the two meet again in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Oaks at Gulfstream Park.
Trouble is, the Gulfstream Oaks is not strictly a two-horse race. Emollient and Cue the Moon have bright futures, and Kimberly Jean and Original Script are not without a chance.
Chad Keller has been named Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing secretary at Prairie Meadows.
Keller has worked in the Prairie Meadows racing office since 2000 and in 2006 was promoted to assistant Thoroughbred racing secretary. Keller has been the Quarter Horse racing secretary at Prairie Meadows since 2008.
The 67-day Prairie Meadows meet begins April 19 and runs through Aug. 10. It will be followed by a 26-day Quarter Horse meet that opens Aug. 17.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Tom Albertrani will be hard-pressed to top last weekend when he had Twilight Eclipse set a world record in the Pan American here and watched Big Screen run off the screen at Aqueduct.
Saturday, he will try to keep the ball rolling when he sends out European import Anjaz in the Grade 3, $150,000 Orchid for fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Silver Max, who at one point last year won six consecutive races, makes his 4-year-old debut in a seemingly wide open renewal of the Grade 3 Appleton Stakes at a mile.
Silver Max, trained by Dale Romans, won at distances ranging from a mile to 1 1/4 miles last year including the Grade 2 Virginia Derby. He has not run since finishing ninth behind Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Shadwell Turf Mile.
Silver Max, who has been working bullets over Gulfstream’s turf course, will break from post 7 in the 12-horse field under Robby Albarado.
