INDIANTOWN, Fla. – One visit to Payson Park and it’s easy to see why Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has used the training center located approximately 90 miles north of Gulfstream Park as his major base of operations in south Florida for the past 30 years.
NEW ORLEANS – A little improvement.
That’s all trainers Dallas Stewart, Tom Amoss, and Steve Asmussen want to see from the 3-year-olds they’re running in the Louisiana Derby on Saturday.
Sure, Golden Soul, Mylute, and Proud Strike were also-rans in the Risen Star on Feb. 23, but only 3 1/2 lengths separated the first eight finishers.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite Mother Nature’s last-ditch effort to hold on to winter by producing another storm on Monday, spring does begin for New York horseplayers Wednesday with the opening of Aqueduct’s main track.
It will be one of those don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it type of meets, with only 19 cards of racing before this circuit moves to Belmont Park on April 26. New York Racing Association officials are hoping to add turf racing to the mix here on April 3, though that is weather dependent.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – Govenor Charlie was set to return to California on Tuesday following his victory here Sunday in the Sunland Derby, a race that earned him enough points to secure a starting berth in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs and ended the round of Derby preps worth 50 points to the winner.
The waters get even deeper now.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - One of the most high-profile residents of the backstretch this winter is Marketing Mix, the Glen Hill Farm star who finished second in a photo behind Eclipse Award winner Zagora in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Marketing Mix hasn’t seen action since that race in November but recently went back into training here and posted her third work Saturday when she went a half-mile in 49.20 seconds over the main track.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – As the race meet at Tampa Bay Downs moves into its final six weeks, the Ness Express continues to chug toward another local training title.
Through Sunday’s racing, horses trained by Jamie Ness have won 39 races, 11 more than the runners of Jorge Navarro, and the stable continues to win races at a staggering 36 percent clip. Barring any late-season collapse, the Ness barn will wind up atop the trainer standings for the seventh straight season. (He shared the title in 2009-10 with Kathleeen O’Connell and in 2010-11 with Gerald Bennett.)
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – It was her first race against winners, around two turns, in a stakes race, and away from her home.
And it all mattered not a bit.
In a crushing performance that stamped her as one of the elite candidates for the Kentucky Oaks on May 4, the dazzling 3-year-old filly Midnight Lucky rolled to an eight-length win in track-record time on Sunday when defeating seven outmatched rivals in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks.
“Oh my God,” jockey Rafael Bejarano said after dismounting.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – Completing a blockbuster day at Sunland Park for trainer Bob Baffert, owner Mike Pegram, and the sire Midnight Lute, Govenor Charlie cruised to a five-length victory on Sunday in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby.
A little more than a half-hour earlier, Baffert and Pegram scored in the Sunland Park Oaks with the filly Midnight Lucky, like Govenor Charlie progeny of Midnight Lute.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
Isn’t He Clever set a track record for 6 1/2 furlongs at Sunland Park on Sunday, when he won the $75,000 Bill Thomas Memorial in 1:13.45. He powered home by 5 3/4 lengths over Warren’s Knockout, to lower the mark of 1:13.95 that Happy Humor set on Feb. 15, 2009.
The Bill Thomas Memorial was one of seven stakes on the Sunland Derby Day card. Together the races were worth a cumulative $1.4 million. The program was the richest of the meet at Sunland Park, the New Mexico track located just across the border from El Paso, Texas.
