A familiar cast of characters has been assembled for Saturday’s $100,000 Affirmed Success Stakes.
Saginaw, who has reeled off four straight wins in blinkers, will be favored against five other New York-breds in the seven-furlong race, which is the third leg of a late pick four with a $350,000 guaranteed pool.
BALTIMORE – The Preakness is experiencing something of a resurgence in popularity after attendance crashed from an all-time high of 121,263 for the 2007 running to just 77,850 in 2009, when Pimlico announced they were abandoning the longstanding tradition of bring-your-own-booze.
[bc_video_id:252194:]ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Roxy Gap ran better than ever when she took the six-furlong Whimsical Stakes over 2011 Canadian champion female sprinter Atlantic Hurricane. They will meet again over 6 1/2 furlongs Saturday at Woodbine in the Grade 2, $150,000 Hendrie Stakes.
Roxy Gap, a 4-year-old trained by Mark Casse, was unbeaten at 2. She captured the Fury Stakes early in her 3-year-old season, before tailing off.
Boyd Gaming, the Las Vegas-based parent company of Delta Downs in Vinton, La., has announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., as part of a larger, five-property acquisition of Peninsula Gaming. The deal is worth $1.45 billion, and is expected to close by the end of 2012, according to a release issued by Boyd Gaming.
The other properties are the Kansas Star Casino near Wichita, Kan.; Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque, Iowa; Diamond Jo Worth in Northwood, Iowa; and Amelia Belle Casino in Amelia, La.
BALTIMORE – Daily Racing Form reporter David Grening and Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden were among the honorees Thursday morning at the annual Alibi Breakfast at Pimlico, where both were presented with the Old Hilltop Award for covering racing with excellence and distinction.
Grening, 46, has been writing about racing for 20 years, the last 14 for Daily Racing Form while based primarily in New York.
BALTIMORE – He was second at the Kentucky Derby, but he will be the first choice at the Preakness Stakes. Despite being defeated as the favorite two weeks ago in the first leg of the Triple Crown, Bodemeister will be the favorite again on Saturday in the 137th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, in which he will try to deny the Derby winner, I’ll Have Another, from advancing to the June 9 Belmont Stakes with a chance to complete the Triple Crown.
BALTIMORE - Trainer Doodnauth Shivmangal did not enter Guyana Star Dweej in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes due to the combination of a grabbed quarter and a spate of wet tracks in New York that prevented him from being able to work the horse.
“I don’t like to breeze over a sloppy track,” said Shivmangal, who told Pimlico officials that a grabbed quarter had not sufficiently healed.
Guyana Star Dweej, a maiden winner from nine starts who likely would have been the longest shot in the field, will likely be pointed to the Belmont Stakes, Shivmangal said.
BALTIMORE – Doug O’Neill said that before he came to Pimlico last week with Derby winner I’ll Have Another, he had been here only one time – and it was a very brief stay.
It was Preakness weekend 2003, when he sent Maria’s Mirage to run second in the The Very One Stakes. O’Neill flew in from California for the race, but didn’t stay to see it.
Premier Pegasus, a three-time stakes winner and Triple Crown contender in 2011, was euthanized Wednesday after suffering a severe leg injury at Santa Anita, owner-trainer Myung Kwon Cho confirmed.
Premier Pegasus won 4 of 5 starts and $293,400. Unraced since March 2011, Premier Pegasus was training for a comeback when the injury occurred. Cho said that Premier Pegasus was training aggressively Wednesday when he was hurt.
“It’s sad,” he said. “He was galloping, and the rider said that he couldn’t hold him.”
Rail Trip, the millionaire and four-time stakes winner, may make his 2012 debut in the $100,000 Los Angeles Handicap over six furlongs on May 28.
A 7-year-old gelding, Rail Trip has been in training with Ron Ellis since late winter. A winner of 8 of 17 starts and $1,116,790, Rail Trip was trained by Richard Dutrow Jr. in late 2010 and early 2011, going winless in five starts.
Prior to that, Rail Trip was trained by Ellis from the start of his career in late 2008 to the summer of 2010, a period highlighted by a win in the 2010 Hollywood Gold Cup.
