ELMONT, N.Y. - Better Lucky was really good - and a little bit lucky - to win Monday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont Park by a nose over the tough-luck Regalo Mia.
Making her first start on turf, Better Lucky got a ground-saving trip from Eddie Castro, before being tipped three wide for the stretch. She had to work hard to wrest the lead from 23-1 shot Zultanite in deep stretch while holding off the late-running Regalo Mia on the line.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Silver Max stumbled at the start, set a hot pace, finished with great energy, and ran a fast race on a hot day winning the $125,000 Arlington Classic on Saturday, but trainer Dale Romans said Silver Max was showing no sign of fatigue upon his return to Romans’s Churchill Downs base.
“He came out of that race in really good shape,” Romans said Monday.
Dullahan, the third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, arrived at Belmont at 6:30 a.m. following a lengthy van ride from Churchill Downs.
Trainer Dale Romans said that Dullahan would gallop the rest of the week and probably breeze over the main track on Saturday.
[BELMONT STAKES: Video updates, expected field, early odds]
Romans said that it is important for I’ll Have Another to have legitimate competition in his quest for the Triple Crown.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Steve Cauthen has never met Mario Gutierrez. Nor does he want to – at least not for the next two weeks.
But Cauthen can empathize with Gutierrez. It was 34 years ago that the then-18-year-old Cauthen was counting down the days to the Belmont Stakes, where he would make history by guiding Affirmed to a head victory over Alydar to complete horse racing’s Triple Crown.
[BELMONT STAKES: Video updates, expected field, early odds]
Strait of Dover, Classic Bryce, Beeker Street, and Perfect Tay all breezed at Woodbine Monday morning in preparation for possible appearances in Sunday’s Plate Trial.
The prospective field for the $150,000 Plate Trial, a 1 1/8 mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, is hard to nail down because several nominees have options in upcoming allowance races.
Strait of Dover, trained by Danny Vella, breezed five furlongs in 1:02 with regular rider Justin Stein aboard and without the blinkers which he wears on race days.
Hunters Bay was making his stakes debut against some salty opposition here in last Saturday’s Grade 2, $156,300 Eclipse Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.
But the lightly raced 5-year-old Hunters Bay made short work of his 10 rivals and didn’t fool the playing customers as he was sent off as the 7-5 choice under Emma-Jayne Wilson.
“He’s a wonderful horse to be around,” said Reade Baker, who conditions the homebred Hunters Bay for Stronach Stable. “You can do anything you want with him. She just had to step on the gas, and away he went.”
Compliance Officer won the $125,000 Kingston Stakes by three-quarters of a length in his 6-year-old debut on Sunday at Belmont Park.
It was the seventh win from eight starts for Compliance Officer in the last year, or since he was claimed for $25,000 by Thomas La Marca and trainer Bruce Brown.
Brown said Monday that Compliance Officer came out of the race in excellent shape and with the next New York-bred stakes on this circuit not until August at Saratoga, he would look to point Compliance Officer to an open stakes race.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Winter Memories will be one of the stars that will be in action on the Belmont Stakes undercard on June 9. On Monday, she prepared for her start in the Grade 1 Just a Game with a sharp five-furlong workout in 1:01.14 over the Belmont Park turf course.
With a triple set of orange cones forcing workers well beyond the center of the Widener turf course, Winter Memories went her first three furlongs in 37.52 seconds and came home in a solid 23.62 under jockey Javier Castellano.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Bantee has tossed her hat into the ring for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks to bring the prospective field for Sunday’s headliner to eight.
Owned by Jim and Susan Hill and trained by Reade Baker, Bantee would be making just her fourth career start and her first beyond six furlongs in the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
In her only appearance this season, Bantee rallied strongly apparently to win her maiden at six furlongs but was disqualified and placed seventh.
