LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a relatively quiet week, activity picked up to a frenetic pace at Churchill Downs on Saturday morning with four Kentucky Derby hopefuls working within a five-minute span immediately after the renovation break. Overall, seven of the prospective 20-horse Derby field breezed around the country on Saturday, including Hansen at the nearby Trackside training center, Alpha at Belmont Park, and Done Talking at Laurel Park.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Racing for the second time in 15 days, Point of Entry surged to the lead in midstretch of Friday’s Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes on the turf at Keeneland to post his first stakes win, beating an accomplished field of eight runners.
A son of Dynaformer bred and owned by the Phipps Stable, Point of Entry ($13.20) ran the 1 1/2 miles on the firm turf in time of 2:29.45, beating the 15-1 outsider Tahoe Lake by 1 1/2 lengths. Simmard, the second choice, was three-quarters of a length back in third.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Acclamation, the champion older male of 2011, was withdrawn from Friday’s Grade 3 Inglewood Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park on the afternoon of the race after trainer Don Warren said he was unhappy with the way the 6-year-old cooled out after a gallop at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Warren said that precautionary X-rays taken of one of Acclamation’s ankles on Friday morning showed no damage, but that the decision was made to scratch from the Inglewood. Acclamation would have been heavily favored in the Inglewood, run over 1 1/8 miles on turf.
Jockey Patrick Valenzuela was winless with two mounts on Thursday’s program, his first rides since returning from a four-month retirement.
Valenzuela finished eighth aboard Family and Friends in a maiden claimer and fifth on Jilly Baylee in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies.
“I felt like I won a race today,” Valenzuela said. “I’m back and I’m feeling good.”
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Shotgun Willis will attempt to become the fourth next-out winner to emerge from a recent Oaklawn race on Sunday, when he runs in a seven-furlong, first-level optional $18,000 claimer at Lone Star Park.
AUBURN, Wash. – D’honorable One, expected to be a factor in the 3-year-old stakes picture this summer at Emerald Downs, will make his first local start of 2012 in Sunday’s co-featured eighth race, a no-conditons allowance at six furlongs.
D’honorable One has made four career starts for owner Heidi Nelson. He was a smashing maiden winner at Emerald last July, finished third as the betting favorite in a stakes race in his first try against winners, and then captured a first-level optional claimer at Golden Gate in February following a six-month layoff.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A desire to avoid the unpredictable spring weather in Kentucky has kept a fair share of Derby horses away from Churchill Downs so far this year, and this weekend, plus the results next week, might tell the tale over who made the better choice.
A significant rainstorm was forecast for the weekend here at Churchill Downs, most notably Saturday, when Union Rags headed the list of Derby horses scheduled to work. His trainer, Michael Matz, said Friday morning he was willing to wait a day until Sunday, but he was hoping to go full speed ahead Saturday morning.
AUBURN, Wash. -- El Gran Bebe, a revelation on the grass in Northern California, and Cat On Base, who held Emerald Downs’ s 5 1/2-furlong track record for all of eight days after running 1:01.37 in his last start, are the horses to beat in Sunday’s co-featured ninth race, a second-level optional $25,000 claimer at six furlongs. First post is 2 p.m. Pacific.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – After taking the scenic route to win the first stakes of his career in Thursday’s $72,350 Harry Henson Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, American Act will have plenty of chances to see more ground later this summer.
Trainer Jack Carava said the long-term goal for American Act is starts in two-turn stakes, on turf or on main tracks.
On Friday, Carava was content to see American Act emerge from an eventful running of the Henson without mishap.
[bc_video_id:250209:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Union Rags made his grand entrance on the Churchill Downs stage Friday morning, eliciting a few oohs and aahs from the crowd as he performed a routine gallop during the special Derby-Oaks training session immediately after the renovation break.
Union Rags’s first appearance in Louisville since his runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile highlighted the local Kentucky Derby activity report while on the West Coast, I’ll Have Another made big news with a somewhat unorthodox six-furlong work at Hollywood Park.
