A dispute between Arlington Park, the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and the Illinois Racing Board has arisen over language Arlington used on an application for stall space at the track’s 2013 race meet.
The mention of stall rent at a track -- like Arlington --owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated is a hot-button topic because of a similar situation at Calder Race Course in Florida, another CDI track which has seen stall-rent disputes between management and horsemen.
Two major players based at Belmont Park spent Wednesday morning training at Aqueduct for this holiday weekend’s graded stakes at Laurel Park.
My Wandy’s Girl, among the choices for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap, and Brigand, the probable favorite for Monday’s Grade 3, $250,000 General George Handicap, took separate vans from Belmont to Aqueduct on Wednesday to put in workouts for their upcoming stakes engagements.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Mark Casse reported that his top 3-year-old prospect, the multiple graded stakes winner Uncaptured, worked three furlongs in 35.60 seconds and galloped out a half-mile in 48.60 in Ocala on Wednesday. It was his first work since closing out his juvenile campaign with a neck decision over Frac Daddy in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
STICKNEY, Ill. – On Tuesday morning at Hawthorne Race Course the slop on the inner half of the main track was deep as a creek. At the height of training only a handful of horses picked their way through the soup. One published workout was recorded. The few trainers or assistants braving a chill west wind while trackside shouted at exercise riders to jog, not gallop.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Atigun will make his first start since the Breeders’ Cup on Friday at Oaklawn Park in a $75,000 optional claimer that also drew graded stakes winners Endorsement and Hurricane Ike. For some in the 10-horse field, the 1 1/16-mile race for older horses will serve as a stepping-stone to next month’s Grade 3, $150,000 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn.
Apprentice jockey Jose Ortiz, the second-leading rider in the country in purse money won in 2013, sustained cuts on his hand and nose and has a sore back, but otherwise appeared to escape serious injury as a result of being involved in a three-horse spill Wednesday at Laurel Park.
Two other riders involved in the spill, J.D. Acosta and Julian Pimentel, also appeared to escape unscathed. Acosta rode his other mount on the card, while Pimentel was taken to First-Aid and was taken off his remaining mounts.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A trio of lightly raced but talented 4-year-old fillies coming off extended layoffs – Small Kitchen, Funny Proposition, and Aubby K – will take on the red-hot Starship Truffles in Friday’s co-featured fourth race, to be decided under mid-level optional claiming conditions.
Small Kitchen opened her career with two easy wins at Fair Grounds, but was badly beaten in her two subsequent starts, the Grade 3 Fair Ground Oaks and Grade 3 Eight Belles last May at Churchill Downs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Dale Romans stepped things up a little Tuesday for his Dubai-bound Dullahan, who worked a strong five furlongs in company in 1:00.62 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.38 with jockey John Velazquez aboard. Dullahan hooked in at the five-furlong pole with a member of trainer Allen Iwinski’s stable, then joined his own stablemate Conversationalist, who began at the half-mile pole, for the final quarter-mile of the drill and during the gallop-out around the clubhouse turn.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sprint champion Trinniberg took the first baby step toward defending his title this season when he worked an easy three furlongs in 38.13 seconds at Gulfstream Park on Tuesday. The work was the first for the reigning Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner since he returned to training here last month.
Trainer Shivananda Parbhoo said that if all goes well, Trinniberg could make his 2013 debut March 30 in the Dubai Golden Shaheen. The Golden Shaheen is contested at six furlongs over the synthetic surface at Meydan.
For the second straight year, the $75,000 Stymie Stakes was not carded. No horses were entered for the 1 1/8-mile stakes race for 4-year-olds and up at Aqueduct.
Four horses that were nominated to the Stymie instead went in the $75,000 Moro Stakes, which was open to horses who have started for a claiming price. The Moro, at 1 1/8 miles, drew a field of six and will be carded as race 4 on Saturday’s 10-race program.
