ARCADIA, Calif. – My Miss Aurelia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2011, has been sent to co-owner Barbara Banke’s Florida training center for a springtime break and physical evaluation, co-owner George Bolton said on Friday.
Bolton said that My Miss Aurelia is likely to resume racing this summer, with the goal of a campaign in the second half of 2013.
My Miss Aurelia finished third as the 4-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Azeri Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on March 16.
The fields are starting to take shape for several of the other graded stakes on Florida Derby Day, March 30, at Gulfstream Park.
The best of the undercard races will be the Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks, which is expected to feature a rematch between Live Lively and Dreaming of Julia, the first- and second-place finishers in the Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile Davona Dale on Feb. 23.
It was a year ago this week that Isn’t He Clever established himself as the top 3-year-old in New Mexico with his runner-up finish in the Sunland Derby. Fast forward to Sunday, and he is a leading candidate to win the top sprint race held at Sunland Park.
Though they are lightly raced, the raw talent thus far displayed by Majestic River and Midnight Lucky make them the primary contenders against six other 3-year-old fillies in the $200,000 Sunland Oaks on Sunday at Sunland Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Ken McPeek had to rush off and catch a flight to Kentucky on Friday morning, but he left town with a big smile on his face after watching his Florida Derby hopeful, Frac Daddy, work five furlongs in 1:00.24 about an hour earlier at Gulfstream Park.
With jockey Corey Lanerie aboard, Frac Daddy broke off a couple of lengths behind stablemate Kid Twist, posting splits of 24.17 seconds and 36.34 before pulling three lengths clear at the wire and galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.31.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Lady of Shamrock’s 2013 campaign could end the same place it begins – on the Santa Anita turf course where she makes her first start of the season Sunday in the Grade 2, $150,000 Santa Ana Stakes.
Six fillies and mares entered the 1 1/8-mile Santa Ana, and trainer John Sadler is confident Grade 1 winner Lady of Shamrock will fire fresh in her first start since Nov. 2.
NEW ORLEANS – It’s not surprising that trainer Todd Pletcher will be well represented in the four Grade 2 stakes on Louisiana Derby Day.
Those races – the Louisiana Derby, Fair Grounds Oaks, New Orleans Handicap, and Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap – have been good to Pletcher. He and the late Bobby Frankel are the only trainers who have won all four.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maybe it was a result of being matched up with a graded stakes-winning sprinter. Maybe it was the result of his connections wanting to do a little more with him. Or maybe it was simply a result of just how good Vyjack is doing right now.
Whatever it was, Vyjack, the undefeated 3-year-old, turned in a sensational five-furlong workout Friday morning at Aqueduct in preparation for a start in the $1 million Wood Memorial here on April 6.
As the only graded stakes winner in the field, Shakin It Up is the most accomplished horse in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby on Sunday at Sunland Park, but he will be making his first start around two turns while coming out of a race whose form is debatable.
Where else to look? Perhaps not that far away.
