ARCADIA, Calif. – Perfect after two starts, Bobina will make her stakes debut in the $100,000 Senorita Stakes at Hollywood Park on May 5.
The filly earned a trip to that race by splashing home to a half-length win in an optional claimer over a mile on a sloppy main track at Santa Anita on Friday. The race was scheduled for turf, but moved to the main track after a day of rain.
Bobina ($5.40) was ridden by Edwin Maldonado for trainer A.C. Avila.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Glinda the Good took advantage of a scalding early pace and then rallied for an easy victory on Friday at Oaklawn Park in the $100,000 Instant Racing Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, the supporting feature on the Apple Blossom card.
Under jockey Corey Nakatani, Glinda the Good ($5.40) was seventh in the nine-horse field for the first half-mile of the one-mile race, but she came with a big rush on the far turn, swooped rivals a quarter-mile out, and drew clear during the short stretch of the mile run to win by three lengths in 1:39.44 on the fast main track.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty got her 4-year-old season started in a powerful way Friday at Oaklawn Park, when she shuttled to a 2 1/4- length win over Absinthe Minded in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap.
The score gave Plum Pretty’s trainer, Bob Baffert, his fifth graded win at the meet, and his second during the Racing Festival of the South that wraps up Saturday with the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
“If we can just keep going one more day,” said Baffert, who has Bodemeister and Secret Circle in the Arkansas Derby.
The 6-year-old mare Magical Feeling had clear sailing when she rallied from sixth to get up by a neck at 27-1 in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel in mid-Feburary. She encountered all kinds of traffic trouble, however, when she tried to duplicate that rally in the Grade 2 Inside Information at Gulfstream Park.
Magical Feeling and rider Roberto Alvarado Jr. will attempt to work out a clean trip from post 7 when she faces eight other fillies and mares in the $200,000 Sugar Maple at seven furlongs (race 11) on Saturday's Charles Town Classic card.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Data Link got a perfectly timed ride from Alex Solis when notching the first stakes victory of his career in posting a 12-1 upset in the 24th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile on a seasonal Friday afternoon at Keeneland.
Trained by Shug McGaughey for breeder-owner Stuart Janney III, Data Link was up in the final strides to nail Turallure, the 7-5 favorite, by a neck on the wire. Doubles Partner was just a half-length back in the field of six older turf runners, while Get Stormy, the pacesetter and 9-5 favorite, was another neck back in fourth.
The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association on Friday released a five-point plan to reform medication policies in Thoroughbred racing and is asking the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to begin the process of adopting its proposal as state law.
“While we are hoping for industry-wide support for our proposal, our first obligation is to New York, and we believe the initiative should start here,” NYTHA president Rick Violette Jr. said.
NYTHA proposes the following plan:
Achilles may make his stakes debut in the $200,000 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 4 after extending his unbeaten streak to two races in an optional claimer at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Trained by Neil Drysdale for Peachtree Stable, Achilles ($3.20) ran a mile on turf in 1:36.12, finishing a length in front of the $80,000 claimer War Politics. Jockey Joe Talamo had Achilles in second on the backstretch. The colt took the lead in early stretch and pulled away to win by a length.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sand has been added to Santa Anita’s clay-and-sand main track in recent weeks, a procedure welcomed by some horsemen who say the racing surface is slower and safer than it was earlier this year.
The California Horse Racing Board has yet to release fatality statistics for this year’s meet, which began Dec. 26 and ends April 22, so it is not clear whether there have been fewer main-track casualties compared to last season. But some horsemen say adding sand has made the track safer.
The emphasis is on speed, specifically turf speed, Sunday at Lone Star. Three turf sprints are among the day’s nine races, with two at five furlongs, and another, a starter allowance, contested over just a half-mile.
Among the trio of turf dashes is the day’s richest contest, the sixth race for fillies and mares, a $24,000 second-level allowance with a $50,000 claiming condition.
Mahubo returned to Aqueduct and returned to the winner’s circle, earning a hard-fought neck victory over Indy Scent in Friday’s $75,000 Three Coins Up Stakes.
It was another head back to Rustler Hustler in third. Pocket Cowboys and Kingofthebluegrass completed the order of finish.
Mahubo won for the first time since last Nov. 9 when he made his North American debut in a $35,000 claimer at Aqueduct. He raced three times at Gulfstream with two seconds and a third before Friday.
