LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Shackleford, the 2011 Preakness winner who posted his first victory in nearly a year in winning the Grade 2 Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard, will make his next start in the May 28 Met Mile at Belmont Park, said trainer Dale Romans.
“I couldn’t be prouder of him,” said Romans. “When he’s on his game and he digs down, it’s tough for another horse to get by him. If he keeps running like he did Saturday, we’re going to have a really good year with him.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Patrick Valenzuela is still seeking his first win of the spring-summer meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park, two weeks after the 49-year-old rider ended a four-month retirement.
Through Thursday, Valenzuela was winless with 21 mounts, including one second-place finish and three thirds. Mounts have been scarce, too.
Thursday, Valenzuela had one ride, finishing fifth on Warren’s Kong in the fourth race on an eight-race card.
Sunday, Valenzuela, 49, has three mounts on a nine-race program.
One impressive 2-year-old from last year, Fire On Ice, recently rejoined trainer John Kimmel at Belmont Park and could be back to the races before the end of the meet.
Fire On Ice won his debut by 10 3/4 lengths last August on Travers Day at Saratoga, running six furlongs in 1:09.67. He was training for a start in the Grade 1 Champagne when he suffered a condylar fracture in his left hind ankle that required surgery.
Frank Stronach had purchased 80 percent of the colt from Kimmel and Eli Ghindi after the colt’s debut.
Thus far, Broadway’s Alibi has come out of her runner-up finish to Believe You Can in the Kentucky Oaks in good shape and is under “strong consideration” for the Grade 1 Acorn on May 28, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Believe You Can, is being pointed to the Grade 1 Mother Goose on June 23.
Broadway’s Alibi and Believe You Can went at it from the start in the Oaks, with Believe You Can, under Rosie Napravnik, getting the better of Broadway’s Alibi in deep stretch.
Andrew Leggio is branching out at the age of 78.
The trainer of St. John’s River, who was second in the Grade 2 La Troienne earlier this month at Churchill Downs, has found himself with divisions of horses at three different tracks this spring. Leggio has 18 head at his usual base, Louisiana Downs near Shreveport, another 10 at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., and five at Churchill Downs.
“It’s a little different this year,” Leggio said. “I usually have in the neighborhood of 20 horses. It’s just the way things happened this year, and we’re just going with the flow.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Scratched from a turf race last weekend at Arlington Park, Hero of Order, the shocking winner of the $1 million Louisiana Derby on April 1, is back in the entries Sunday at Arlington, one of eight horses in a second-level allowance race also open to $40,000 claimers and carded over a one-turn mile on Polytrack.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Amazombie, second to Shackleford in the Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard last weekend, is likely to make one start at the current Betfair Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting, in the $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap on June 30.
The Grade 1 Triple Bend Handicap is run over seven furlongs, and is the top sprint race of the meeting.
“I think that’s probably what we’ll do,” trainer Bill Spawr said. “I think in the right circumstances he can run that far.”
AUBURN, Wash. – The heart of the Emerald Downs season begins Sunday with the first stakes race of the meeting and an undercard with entertainment value: 10 races, full fields, and a slew of promising handicapping angles. No question, it’s the best card of the meeting, just in time for Mother’s Day.
The main event, the $50,000 Hastings Handicap, lured just five runners, but the leading contenders – Class Included and Special Holiday – could put on quite a show for mom.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Six of the 10 races carded at Belmont Park for Sunday are scheduled for the turf, including a trio of high-priced allowance events.
The second race on the card is a second-level allowance heat for 3-year-olds and up at a mile. Three-year-olds Our Entourage and Achilles ended up in this spot after a stakes restricted to 3-year-olds was not used by the racing office.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wesley Ward is a lot like a football coach in that, even late in the game, you can’t tell by his expression whether he is winning or losing. With few exceptions, Ward doesn’t do any rooting for his horses, even in the stretch run of their races. Rather, he watches closely and impassively, far more clinician than cheerleader.
