HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tiz Miz Sue established herself as a leading local hope for next month’s Apple Blossom when she won the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri at Oaklawn on March 17, but there is no guarantee she will start in the Grade 1 handicap for fillies and mares April 13.
“I don’t want to run for second money,” said Steve Hobby, who trains Tiz Miz Sue for Cresran LLC.
Pumped-up purses for three graded stakes and the return of the Pimlico Special are among the notable changes for the marquee meet of Maryland’s racing season at historic Pimlico.
The 29-day meet, which begins Friday and runs through Preakness Day on May 19, will feature 22 stakes worth a collective $3.4 million, an increase of $525,000 from last season.
As usual, the bulk of the stakes activity will come on Preakness weekend, which features 16 stakes worth a total of $3 million.
Here's my race-by-race rundown of Friday's pick four at Aqueduct on March 30, 2012. I'm building my wager with TicketMaker, found exclusively on DRF.com, with $0.50 incremental bets and $120.00 budget.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Supreme Summit and Red Defense were second and third in an allowance race over a mile on March 2. They meet again in an allowance race over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in Friday’s seventh race at Santa Anita, and each needs a victory to end a losing streak.
Supreme Summit, fourth in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs, is winless in seven starts since winning an optional claimer at Del Mar in September 2010. He was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by the stakes winner Leroy’s Dynameaux on March 2.
HALLANDALE, BEACH, Fla. – Union Rags drew post 6 and El Padrino post 8 when a field of nine was entered Wednesday for the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Union Rags, winner of the Fountain of Youth Stakes, is the 6-5 favorite on the morning line of Chuck Streva of Gulfstream Park. El Padrino, winner of the Risen Star, is next at 2-1.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A year ago, Gitchee Goomie returned from a five-month layoff to win a second-level optional-claiming race on the grass. On Friday, Gitchee Goomie will return from a similar hiatus and attempt to defeat slightly better third-level optional-claiming foes when she launches her 2012 campaign going one mile on the turf.
Winning Image led from start to finish to capture the $75,000 Langhorne at Parx Racing on Tuesday afternoon.
Trained by Mike Aro, Winning Image was sent to the front by jockey Jose Caraballo and led by nearly two lengths to upper stretch. Caraballo went to work late and held off a late charge by Island Bound and jockey Ronnie Allen Jr. to prevail by a half-length.
NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Larry Jones has scheduled a weekend workout at Fair Grounds for 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, who easily won the March 17 New Orleans Ladies Stakes in her first start of 2012. Jones said he still needed to find someone to work Havre de Grace, since regular work rider Jen Brasser is headed to Keeneland with Jones-trained horses bound for Kentucky this week.
Jones also rides Havre de Grace most days, and said the mare has been sending signals that she needs more strenuous exercise than daily gallops.
NEW ORLEANS – Mark Valeski did nothing in a Tuesday morning workout to suggest he isn’t a deserving favorite in Sunday’s $1 million Louisiana Derby, breezing a brisk five furlongs in 1:00.60 under race-rider Rosie Napravnik. The drill earned a bullet, though Tuesday was a light work day at Fair Grounds, with only 14 horses posting five-furlong breezes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Whistleblower, who kept tough company after a maiden win early at the inner track meet, drops to the $50,000 optional claiming/starter allowance ranks in Thursday’s eighth race.
Whistleblower returned from a five-month layoff for trainer Ken McPeek and beat maiden sprinters impressively enough to run back five weeks later in the Count Fleet Stakes, where he finished sixth behind Alpha. He then turned back to a six-furlong allowance and ran a close fourth to Hardened Wildcat, who returned to take the Fred “Cappy” Capossela Stakes.
