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.
C2 Racing Stable announced in a press release on Tuesday they have transferred White Abarrio from trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. to Rick Dutrow Jr. at Belmont Park and that he will run in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile on June 10.
Joseph was banned indefinitely by Churchill Downs following the sudden deaths of two of his horses during races run the week prior to the Kentucky Derby. Subsequently, NYRA and Joseph came to an understanding that he would not ship any horses to run in New York while the matter in Kentucky was under investigation.
Taxed, winner of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico last Friday, was back at her Churchill Downs home but is likely headed out on the road again this summer in search of Grade 1 glory, trainer Randy Morse said Monday.
“The main objective is to try and get a Grade 1 with her,” Morse said Monday by phone from Maryland where he was attending the Timonium 2-year-olds-in-training sale.
Churchill Downs opens a five-day holiday week of racing with competitive allowance-level events on both Thursday and Friday that feature several stakes performers. Churchill will then run its usual Saturday and Sunday cards, followed by a Memorial Day program on Monday. Two stakes for fillies and mares will highlight this span.
Three solid events on card
STICKNEY, Ill. – Two Phil’s on Sunday at Hawthorne had work No. 1 since finishing second May 6 in the Kentucky Derby.
The drill was a mere maintenance half-mile timed in 50.80 seconds but suggested the colt had, as trainer Larry Rivelli has maintained over the last two weeks, come out of the Derby in encouraging condition.
“He came back good, he looks good, his energy is good,” Rivelli said.
And Rivelli on Monday still was good with the decision he and Two Phil’s owners made to pass Saturday’s Preakness Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Salesman has never run in a graded or group stakes, or in a race worth six figures. A three-time winner in France, Salesman has not started since June or in the United States. Despite those apparent shortcomings, Salesman is among the list of probable starters in Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita.
Salesman has put in a series of rapid works at Santa Anita, leaving trainer Richard Mandella enthusiastic about the 6-year-old’s appearance in the $500,000 Shoemaker Mile.
