ELMONT, N.Y. – Doug O’Neill wasn’t so much interested in talking to the connections of the recent horses who attempted – and failed – to win the Triple Crown. Instead, O’Neill wanted to talk someone who actually accomplished the feat.
So on Tuesday morning, about two hours after watching I’ll Have Another gallop a strong mile at Belmont Park, O’Neill had a little sit-down with Billy Turner, the trainer of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Shackleford appears to have found his niche in races run around one turn, trainer Dale Romans said Tuesday that he would not be opposed to running his Metropolitan Handicap winner two turns again in the future.
While Romans sent Shackleford to WinStar Farm on Tuesday morning for at least a week’s worth of rest and relaxation, he said races such as the Whitney and Woodward, both run at 1 1/8 miles worth $750,000 at Saratoga on Aug. 4 and Sept. 1, respectively, would be under consideration.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – There was a time when Dubawi Heights, the two-time Grade 1 winner, was considered by trainer Simon Callaghan to be the best turf female he has trained.
That was before Belle Royale’s rise in prominence in Southern California in the last two months.
Callaghan won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes in 2011 with Dubawi Heights, who later won the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes and was sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs.
Nates Mineshaft turned heads in April when he won the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap with a Beyer Speed Figure of 113. He backed the number up on Monday, when he was assigned a 107 for his 7 1/4-length win in the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap.
“I thought he ran really well,” said Austin Smith, who trains Nates Mineshaft for Windy Hill Farm. “I was very happy, and he ran a good number. I’m tickled to death for the win, happy for the horse and happy for the owners.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dane Kobiskie has the focus and determination of a Marine. Medically discharged from that service branch in 1999 after breaking a leg outside of training, Kobiskie, now 33, has used those qualities to succeed as a trainer, first in Maryland and now in Kentucky.
“The goal from day one was to become a trainer,” said Kobiskie, who rode briefly as a jockey at Churchill Downs and Ellis Park in 2005 before moving to Maryland, where he began his training career in 2008.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Morning Line can be described in several ways – millionaire, multiple stakes winner, independent thinker.
Earlier this month, he displayed all those characteristics before a win in the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park. At post time, eight of the nine runners were assembled near the starting gate.
Morning Line was almost a quarter-mile away, at the top of the stretch, with jockey Joe Talamo off the horse.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lacking many opportunities to race on dirt beyond the Churchill Downs spring meet, Stealcase will prep Thursday for what his connections hope will be a berth in the June 16 Matt Winn Stakes.
“That’s the thinking, anyway,” said Norm Casse, who oversees the Churchill string trained by his father, Mark Casse. “We know it’s back fairly quick, but there’s really nothing for him after this. So we’re probably going to try for these two in a row and regroup after that.”
MIAMI – Nominations are out for the four stakes that make up the June 9 Summit of Speed Preview card, and they include such notable sprinters as Eclipse Award winner Musical Romance in the U Can Do It along with Apriority and Giant Ryan, both members of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint field, in the Ponche Handicap.
The four Summit of Speed Preview races serve as preps for the meet’s marquee event, the Summit of Speed, on July 7.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It is a reach to compare a Grade 1 that was run Monday at Betfair Hollywood Park to a second-level allowance that will be run Thursday. Aside from the fact both are turf races for fillies and mares, the similarities are few.
But trainer Ben Cecil found one more parallel linking the Gamely Stakes to the $57,000 allowance that is the feature race Thursday.
Who is the allowance-race favorite?
“I think it is Simon’s filly, again,” Cecil said.
Singlet and Culotte, each a two-time stakes winner and both cutting back in distance following unsuccessful experiments in routes, are the prime contenders in Thursday’s $50,000 Beautiful Day Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.
