LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jockey Declan Cannon said he received more than 100 text and voicemail messages following his breakthrough ride on Verstappen in winning the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.
“It was great to get a Saturday horse like that,” said Cannon, a 35-year-old native of Ireland. “I was really confident going a mile and a half with him. He relaxed lovely for me. It just couldn’t have worked out better.”
The Elkhorn marked the first stakes win for Cannon at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Kenny McPeek said Rattle N Roll will make his next start in the $225,000 Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs after the colt earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.
Rattle N Roll, owned by the Lucky Seven Stables of the Mackin family, now has won five stakes and more than $1.2 million from 16 overall starts. His Ben Ali score came with the stretch kick he developed early in his career, one that carried him to victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in October 2021.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – One of the more impressive maiden victories of the Keeneland meet was posted last Friday by a 4-year-old filly named Loved, who toyed with the opposition when earning an 86 Beyer Speed Figure in an 11 1/2-length romp going 1 1/16 miles.
Brendan Walsh trains Loved, a Godolphin homebred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of Velvety, a pedigree that makes her a half-sister to Maxfield, the most accomplished horse Walsh has trained and another Godolphin homebred.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Recency will be on the side of Personal Best when the gray Tapit filly runs Friday in the closing-day Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland – and she’ll need every edge she can get.
“I didn’t think War Like Goddess would be in there,” said Shug McGaughey, who trains Personal Best for owner-breeder Joe Allen. “No doubt she’s a top filly. But we’ve been running lately and she hasn’t. Maybe that’ll help us.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The 3-year-old filly Shidabhuti, who had her three-race winning streak snapped when finishing third in the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct on April 8, returned to the worktab Saturday morning, breezing a half-mile in 49.94 seconds over Belmont Park’s main track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Now that he has gone through his allowance conditions, Unbridled Bomber will be returning to stakes company for his next start. When and where that will be has yet to be determined.
Unbridled Bomber rebounded from a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Queens County Stakes on Jan. 7 to win a third-level allowance by nine lengths on April 16, earning a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure in the process. In that win, going a one-turn mile, Unbridled Bomber showed speed heretofore unseen in any of his previous races.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- The connections of Evvie Jets, winner of last Sunday’s Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct, are not in a hurry to run their mare back, but if the Grade 3, $175,000 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park on May 7 comes up a small field that race could become an option.
If not, then Evvie Jets could be considered for the Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game on June 9 at Belmont Park, “if it’s not going to be crazy-tough,” trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Time for Trouble posted a $37.50 upset of the featured eighth race Thursday at Keeneland, but the victory will come at a cost for his jockey, Joe Talamo, who struck the Irish-bred with his whip eight times, two over the limit imposed by new crop rules mandated by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
Talamo will forfeit 10 percent of his share of the purse, or $7,347, and will have to sit out one day of racing, which the 33-year-old rider said will be one of the last three cards of the Keeneland spring meet this coming week.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The debut scarcely could have been any flashier. American Rascal, a royally bred 2-year-old colt, won the second race Thursday at Keeneland by a widening 10 1/4 lengths that even had Wesley Ward grasping for superlatives.
“It’s humbling,” said Ward, whose dominance in early season 2-year-old races is as pronounced as ever this year. “Some of the horses the owners give me to train for them are just incredibly talented. Obviously, this colt is unbelievably fast.”
