ELMONT, N.Y. – Pretty Mischievous, the Kentucky Oaks winner, arrived in New York earlier this week and will make her next start in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes, trainer Brendan Walsh said.
The New York Racing Association lengthened the Acorn from its traditional one-mile distance to 1 1/16 miles this year. While Walsh said Pretty Mischievous likely would have run had the Acorn remained at a mile, he doesn’t mind the added distance.
Jockey Alexander Chavez, currently ranked fourth in the standings at the Golden Gate Fields winter-spring meeting, begins a five-day suspension on Friday for careless riding on May 26, according to a ruling published by track stewards.
Chavez was cited for failing to maintain a straight course on Sea Dog, who won an allowance race at a mile. The stewards conductive an inquiry into an incident in the stretch when Sea Dog drifted out and impeded Duplication in the stretch, but ruled that the incident did not affect a placing for Duplication, who finished fourth.
A portion of the $240,000 Macadamia earned for winning Monday’s Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita may finance her nomination to the Breeders’ Cup program this summer.
A 5-year-old Brazilian-bred mare, Macadamia was not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program as a foal. Her supplemental nomination fee, which would make her Breeders’ Cup-eligible for the rest of her career, is $25,000, if paid by July 15.
Though expensive, the fee may be worth the investment considering the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf will be run at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Looking to avoid another meeting with In Italian, trainer Charlie Appleby said Thursday that With the Moonlight would be pointed to the Grade 1, $600,000 New York Stakes rather than the Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game. With the Moonlight was nominated to both races, which are scheduled for June 9 at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tapit Shoes, second to Red Route One in the Bath House Row Stakes on April 22 at Oaklawn Park, was confirmed on Thursday as a starter for the Belmont Stakes on June 10 by trainer Brad Cox.
Tapit Shoes, a son of Tapit – who has produced four Belmont Stakes winners since 2014 – has just one win from five starts. He is owned by a partnership led by Spendthrift Farm and will be ridden in the race by Jose Ortiz, who won the 2017 Belmont aboard Tapwrit.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Chocolate Gelato, idle since finishing a tiring 12th after pressing the pace for six furlongs in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, will make her 3-year-old debut here next Thursday in the $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes.
Trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Chocolate Gelato’s status for the six-furlong Jersey Girl about an hour after she worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 seconds and galloped out six panels in 1:15.80 over the Belmont Park training track in company with Meteorite on Thursday.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Frosted Grace became a graded stakes winner Monday at Lone Star Park in the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile and will go for another victory at that level in July.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro said Wednesday that Frosted Grace has returned to Churchill Downs and is now being pointed for the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows. The 1 1/8 miles race is July 8.
Exaulted earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November with a half-length win in his Grade 1 debut in Monday’s $503,000 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.
A home turf course advantage will be a much needed benefit for the 6-year-old Exaulted.
“You’ve got the Europeans and horses from the rest of the United States,” trainer Peter Eurton said on Wednesday. “It’s a few more levels up.
“Hopefully, he’ll be ready for it.”
When Defunded won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Monday, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert became the all-time winningest trainer of a race first run in 1938 at Hollywood Park.
Baffert, 70, has nine Gold Cup wins, one more than the late Hall of Famer Charles Whittingham.
“I won it with a Kentucky Derby winner and Charlie won it with a Kentucky Derby winner,” Baffert reflected on Wednesday. “It’s an honor to be in that same list with Charlie Whittingham who is the all-time greatest.”
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Hayes Strike emerged from his Monday win in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park in good order and could make his next start in either the Iowa Derby or Ohio Derby, trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday.
McPeek said Hayes Strike is now settled in at Keeneland. The horse was a nose winner over Harlocap on Monday and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 90. Cristian Torres was aboard Hayes Strike.
