Bodemeister has come a long ways in his short career, from an unstarted maiden a little more than three months ago to the possible favorite for the Kentucky Derby following his overpowering victory in the Arkansas Derby on Saturday.
Bodemeister needed a big payday on Saturday, and he got it, banking $600,000 to take away any worry about him making the field because of insufficient earnings. He had just $60,000 going into the race.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – They should all come back this good. A gelding named Spinning Move was unable to win so much as a maiden race as a 3-year-old, but after being away from the races for more than 16 months, he has returned with a vengeance for trainer Neil Howard, winning 2 of 3 starts and threatening to become a force in the turf-sprint niche for older horses.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The respective second- and third-place finishes in the Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday by Hansen and Gung Ho (31-1) added to an impressive recent record that trainer Mike Maker has compiled in the Keeneland showcase, particularly with longshots. Maker won the Blue Grass in 2010 with Stately Victor (40-1) and was beaten just a nose last year with Twinspired (24-1).
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland racing officials are looking for a field of perhaps 10 3-year-olds to run Saturday in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes, but with the apparent defection of Reveron, none of those horses has a realistic chance to make the Kentucky Derby field.
OPELOUSAS, La. – Racing returns to Evangeline Downs on Wednesday evening with a retooled stakes schedule, a reinvigorated turf course, a host of new promotions, and hopes that its ability to attrract large field sizes continues. The 84-day stand will be run on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule with first race post time slated for 5:40 p.m. Central.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The meet at Tampa Bay Downs has three weeks to go and there’s little question the biggest news story has been the amazing success of the Midwest Thoroughbred horses trained by Jamie Ness.
Through 81 days of racing, Ness has sent out 71 winners from 155 starters, a figure that has already broken the record for races won at a meeting of 68, which Ness set during the 2007-2008 meeting. Horses trained by Ness have been winning at a blistering 46 percent clip, which has to rank among the best at any meet by a trainer with so many starters.
Mike Smith, who rode Bodemeister for the first time in winning the Arkansas Derby on Saturday, will retain the mount for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
In another Derby riding development, Garrett Gomez will ride Daddy Nose Best, the winner of the Sunland Derby.
The next major decision will be that of Ramon Dominguez, who has been riding both Hansen and Alpha.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Racing for the first time after a seven-month layoff, Gypsy Robin went to the lead out of the gate and was never threatened when winning the Grade 2, $150,000 Beaumont Stakes over Keeneland’s main track on Sunday. Gypsy Robin was the second choice in the field of six.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario—Town Prize ran them off their feet in Sunday’s $155,800 Woodstock Stakes at Woodbine, scoring with ease under Eurico Da Silva.
Town Prize ($9) shook loose on the lead and proceeded to set fractions of 22.14 and 44.51 seconds in the six-furlong sprint. He drew away in the stretch to prevail by 5 1/4 lengths in 1:08.22, a time which threatened 2011 champion sprinter Essence Hit Man’s Polytrack record of 1:08.16.
Hogy, the favored Chicago shipper, rallied wide for second, and Menlo Castle checked in third in the nine-horse field of 3-year-olds.
