The move to the main track at Aqueduct, originally scheduled for March 14, now will not happen until March 20, according to a notice on the Sunday overnight.
Races in the condition book scheduled to be run at seven furlongs from March 14-17 will be carded and run at six furlongs. Entries for the Uncle Mo Stakes, scheduled for seven furlongs, were to be taken Friday at six furlongs and one mile, the latter meaning the race would be run around two turns over the inner track.
PHOENIX – If E Z Kitty is to retain her status as the leading female at Turf Paradise, she’ll need all her versatility as she faces a tough challenge in Saturday’s $35,000 Mesa Handicap. A field of eight is entered in the 6 1/2-furlong event.
Owned by Mike Chambers, John Xitco, and Dan Agnew, and trained by Chambers, E Z Kitty continues her superb form. Before coming here, the 5-year-old mare was a multiple winner at Emerald Downs in 2011 and 2012, including a stakes win last spring. She’s since flourished, and it’s her versatility that seems key.
You can hear the excitement in trainer Todd Pletcher’s voice just talking about Verrazano, his undefeated and still untested Kentucky Derby prospect, who’ll take center stage when making his stakes debut Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby.
[DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with odds and video]
Saturday’s $50,000-added Camilla Urso at Golden Gate Fields promises to be as difficult a race to win as it is to handicap. The six-furlong Tapeta sprint attracted a field of eight fillies and mares, each of whom has a legitimate shot at winning.
Rowdy Gal and I’m Tops make their first start in nearly a year. Rowdy Gal beat I’m Tops by a nose in a Golden Gate allowance sprint last March 22, the last time they ran.
NEW ORLEANS – When a trainer has a horse so heavily favored to the extent that a targeted race might lack sufficient opposition to actually fill, that trainer will sometimes enter another horse or two to insure that the race goes. And then the trainer might scratch those “fillers” after the race has been safely printed on the program.
NE W ORLEANS – The difference between decent sprinter and standout sprinter is “not that great,” according to trainer Tom Amoss, who will send out Delaunay as a solid favorite Saturday in the marquee sprint of the Fair Grounds meet, the $150,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes.
OLDSMAR Fla. – The Grade 3, $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on the turf and the $100,000 Suncoast, run over a mile and 40 yards on the main track, top a strong undercard for the 12-race Festival Day program at Tampa Bay Downs, which is highlighted by the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby.
The Hillsborough, for older fillies and mares, could turn into a battle between two of the sport’s top trainers in Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown.
The man named Small sure has lived a big life in racing and beyond.
Richard “Dickie” Small, a lifelong horseman who was a Green Beret in his younger days, has been stricken in the last couple of years by an aggressive form of cancer. But that hasn’t stopped the 67-year-old from making his presence felt on his home Maryland circuit.
Small will be represented Saturday by Dynamic Strike, one of the top contenders in the $150,000 Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.
