Churchill Downs, troubled by a spate of equine fatalities this spring, had horses injured on the track and subsequently euthanized last Friday and Saturday. Tests will be performed on the track this week, and an emergency veterinary panel will be convened at the track by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
As it prepares for a big card with six stakes on Saturday – dubbed Stephen Foster Preview Day – Churchill Downs sets the table with Thursday and Friday cards featuring allowance-level events.
Howling Time, who hinted at strong ability against tough competition in the 3-year-old class last year, makes his first start of the year in Thursday’s seventh race, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance-optional claiming race with a purse of $141,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Alys Look, third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5, was transferred to trainer Chris Davis earlier this month and will have her first start for his stable in Saturday’s Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita.
Davis said on Sunday that The Alys Look was part of a group of eight horses recently sent to him by owners Ike and Dawn Thrash of Hattiesburg, Miss. The horses were previously trained by Brad Cox.
Jockey Isaac Castillo, who is shipping in to ride the Lone Star Million Day card Monday at Lone Star Park, will be returning to his former base of Monmouth Park for the remainder of New Jersey meet, agent Dylan Fazio said Saturday.
Fazio said following stakes mounts Monday at Lone Star, Castillo is scheduled to ride in the $150,000 Penn Oaks on Friday night at Penn National. Castillo will then begin riding at Monmouth on a regular basis the next day, June 3.
Trainer Rob Atras was suspended 10 calendar days and fined $1,000 for the finding of an overage of the therapeutic medication phenylbutazone in the post-race sample of Market Alert taken after the gelding finished fourth in the seventh race at Aqueduct on Feb. 20.
The trainer James Chapman, who has horses stabled in New York and Kentucky, was arrested by Nassau County (N.Y.) police on Wednesday and charged with stalking, a B misdemeanor, according to a posting on the Nassau County district court website and Chapman himself.
Chapman, 51, said he spent Wednesday night in jail and on Thursday morning was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead. Chapman told Daily Racing Form that he pleaded not guilty to the stalking charge.
Rich Strike, last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, will move to the barn of Hall of Famer Bill Mott when he resumes training this summer, owner Rick Dawson reported Thursday.
“Bill was my first choice,” Dawson wrote in a statement issued to the media and posted on his Facebook page. “Bill and I have had a number of conversations over the last couple weeks, and I feel very confident Richie will be in great care and oversight. I can't thank Bill enough for accepting the task of training Richie to his full potential.”
When the stakes-winning filly Dark Nme walks into the starting gate for the 16th and final race at Ruidoso Downs on Friday, the first day of time trials for the Ruidoso Futurity will be six hours old.
The mood will be tense. Only the five fastest finishers through the day will qualify for the $1 million final at 350 yards on June 11.
Dark Nme (pronounced enemy) must finish with a rapid time under jockey Francisco Calderon. Wind, weather, and track condition can affect final times at Ruidoso Downs, situated in the southern New Mexico mountains.
