LEXINGTON, Ky. – Some fans may raise eyebrows when a horse works a sizzling five furlongs just four days before a 1 1/8-mile race, but it must be remembered that Jonathan Sheppard did not make the Hall of Fame by accident.
The 71-year-old Englishman sent out Ever So Lucky for a 57-second drill Tuesday in preparation for the Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday in a move prompted partly by the way Ever So Lucky, an Indian Charlie colt, has played catch-up all winter.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While It’s Tricky will be conceding weight to graded stakes winners and turning back in distance in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct, the truth remains she is the class of the field, is training splendidly, and appears to be well drawn for the seven-furlong race.
After deciding between Friday’s Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn and the Distaff, the connections of It’s Tricky chose to stay home with their multiple Grade 1-winning filly, who has finished first or second in 9 of her 10 starts.
The Jenny Wiley Stakes has for years served as a major stakes race on the Keeneland spring calendar. Now upgraded to a Grade 1 for 2012, its significance is amplified.
Although Saturday’s renewal of the $300,000 Jenny Wiley drew only six entrants, every filly and mare is of top caliber, including two – Aruna and Zagora – who are already Grade 1 winners.
Two North American Grade 1 dirt races for older horses have been contested in 2012. Hymn Book won the Donn Handicap on Feb. 11 at Gulfstream Park, Ron the Greek captured the March 3 Santa Anita Handicap. Those two horses meet Saturday in Arkansas, but waiting for them in the Grade 2, $400,000 Oaklawn Handicap is a potentially formidable local opponent, Alternation.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Bob Tiller had an auspicious beginning to the Woodbine meeting, winning two races and finishing in the money with five of his six entrants here opening weekend.
On Saturday, Tiller will be sending out his first stakes starter of the year as Casa Loma will be among six 3-year-old fillies in the $150,000 Star Shoot at six furlongs.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Secret Circle has developed into one of the nation’s top Kentucky Derby prospects without a lot of fanfare. Even though he will be going for a sweep of Oaklawn Park’s series for 3-year-olds on Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, it is a stablemate of his, Bodemeister, who has been grabbing a good deal of attention after being made the morning-line favorite for the race.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Unzip Me, the 10-time stakes winner, will have a changed role in Saturday’s $100,000 Las Cienegas Handicap at Santa Anita.
For the first time since the 2010 Las Cienegas, a race she won, Unzip Me will not be favored in a turf sprint for fillies and mares. The presence of a red-hot rival in Mizdirection makes Unzip Me the likely second choice in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas,run over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The brilliant Tu Endie Wei, Canada’s reigning 2-year-old filly champion, will make her season debut Saturday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Star Shoot Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies.
Tu Endie Wei captured three of four starts at 2, which included an impressive debut score in the five-furlong My Dear Stakes. She also took the Ontario Debutante and Glorious Song Stakes, and she had some excuses in her only poor performance, which came around two turns in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland.
