Sat, 06/16/2012 - 11:28

Parx Racing: Starter-allowance attracts high-caliber field

Noble Maz was good enough to win the $100,000 Mr. Jenney Handicap last year. Likewise in 2011, Bounding Bi picked up a pair of second-place checks in six-figure stakes, including the $200,000 Turf Amazon. Look At Me Dance’s 2011 campaign included a near-miss in the $75,000 Russian Rhythm at Penn National.

Thanks to the liberal starter allowance conditions of Monday’s $40,000 fifth race at Parx Racing, however, all three mares are eligible to run in a five-furlong turf sprint.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 11:08

Churchill Downs: Despite breakout meet, Lanerie to ride at Ellis Park

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Corey Lanerie is having such a breakthrough meet at Churchill this spring that you would have to believe he has entertained thoughts of trying the Saratoga meet this summer.

He has, and he won’t.

Lanerie will follow the same plan he has in recent summers, which is to ride mostly at the Ellis Park meet that starts July 4 while also accepting out-of-town stakes and spot-riding assignments with some frequency. Lanerie lives in Louisville with his wife and young daughter and will have plenty of spare time to engage in his second-favorite sport, golf.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 10:59

Churchill Downs: My Miss Aurelia has first breeze since returning to Asmussen's stable

Justin N. Lane
My Miss Aurelia has not started since winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (above).

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – My Miss Aurelia, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2011, had her first breeze since returning to the care of trainer Steve Asmussen when going an easy three furlongs Friday morning in 39.20 seconds at Churchill Downs.

My Miss Aurelia has not raced since capping off her 4-for-4 season with a victory here last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“We don’t have any agenda with her right now, other than to get her back into top shape and ready to run,” said Asmussen.

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 08:35

Penn National: Lenape Rim handles turf, two turns in Lyphard

Lenape Rim, who had been racing almost exclusively in dirt sprints throughout her 15-race career, handled a stretch-out in distance and her first attempt on turf to capture Friday night’s $75,000 Lyphard Stakes at Penn National.

All five of her previous wins came on wet tracks, although Lenape Rim did finish a close second going 1 1/16 miles in her lone try on a synthetic surface in last summer’s Malvern Rose at Presque Isle Downs and good form on all-weather surfaces often translates well to turf.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:47

Woodbine: One Big Gator grows up

Michael Burns
One Big Gator got a confidence-building victory in a $12,500 claiming race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - At this point in the meeting last year, trainer John Ross was putting the finishing touches on One Big Gator for a run in the Queen’s Plate.

Sent off at almost 60-1, One Big Gator tired heading into the far turn and wound up a well-beaten 15th in the field of 17.

Fast-forward to this Sunday and One Big Gator should be a considerably shorter price in the $125,000 Steady Growth, a 1 1/16-mile race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:18

Thistledown: Gorham scores 1,000th training victory

Trainer Robert Gorham scored his 1,000th career victory on Friday at Thistledown when Banning won the fourth race with Jeffery Skerrett aboard.

Gorham, a 54-year-old native of Michigan, has owned a veterinary clinic in Kalamazoo with his older sister, Marion, since 1977. Approximately 10 years later they bought a farm and began breeding and owning Thoroughbreds. Their first horse, Double Booked, won more than $830,000 between 1989-1991.

Gorham began training horses in 1994 at Detroit Race Course and his starters have earned more than $14.1 million.

 

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:02

Yawanna Twist euthanized after surgery

Tom Keyser
Yawanna Twist was euthanized after fracturing the femur in a hind leg while getting up following routine ankle surgery.

Yawanna Twist, the Richard Dutrow Jr.-trained New York-bred who won the Grade 2 General George in February, had to be euthanized after fracturing the femur in a hind leg while getting up following routine ankle surgery earlier in the week.

Yawanna Twist was at the Rood and Riddle Equine Clinic in Lexington to have chips removed from each ankle. Coming out of anesthesia, Yawanna Twist apparently “got up the wrong way,” Dutrow said.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:01

Calder notes: Giant Ryan gone but hardly forgotten

Barbara D. Livingston
Giant Ryan was euthanized after laminitis set in.

MIAMI – Life went on, as it must, at trainer Bisnath Parboo’s barn at Calder on Friday morning. But it wasn’t easy for the boss, his family, and all the help the day after their beloved Giant Ryan was euthanized as a result of the catastrophic injuries he suffered in Saturday’s True North Handicap at Belmont Park.

Shivananda Parbhoo, son of the trainer, was the principal owner of Giant Ryan, although the horse was truly a family affair. All his success and in the end his great sadness of his death was shared by not only the family but everybody associated with the stable.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:01

Belmont Park notes: Redeemed targeting Greenwood Cup

Tom Keyser
Redeemed is being pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing on July 14.

Redeemed, the 10-length winner of the Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap here June 8, will keep racing at the 1 1/2-mile distance and make his next start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing on July 14.

The Greenwood Cup is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Marathon to be held in November at Santa Anita. The winner of the Greenwood Cup gets their entry fees paid to the Marathon plus a $10,000 travel stipend.

Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said Redeemed would likely run in the Greenwood Cup and have one more start before the Breeders’ Cup.

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 16:36

Belmont: Boys At Tosconova in realistic spot

Barbara D. Livingston
Boys At Tosconova missed most of his 3-year-old season because of nagging injuries.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he has returned to the winner’s circle several times since the summer of 2010, Boys At Tosconova has yet to return to the form that made him a Grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old.

Thus, in picking out spots in which to run the 2010 Hopeful winner, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. doesn’t shoot for the stars.

So while some may have opted to run Boys At Tosconova in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap following his runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Westchester, Dutrow said, “I wasn’t looking in that direction for him.”