OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There’s something for everyone when racing resumes at Aqueduct on Wednesday.
In race 2, Royal Currier, who won Parx Racing’s $250,000 Gallant Bob Stakes in a track-record 1:07.51 for six furlongs, will shoulder 130 pounds in a $55,000 starter handicap, conceding anywhere from 11 to 16 pounds to Jet Set Vinny, Laysh Laysh Laysh Laysh, Mineswept, Saint Daimon, Six Flings, and Starforaday.
NEW ORLEANS -- The starting gate for the Louisiana Derby on Sunday at Fair Grounds will be crammed full of 3-year-olds. Fourteen of them were entered during Monday’s post-position draw, and if all start the field will be the race’s largest since 1962. But it seems fair to wonder whether there is much strength in those numbers.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fields for the seven stakes races on Saturday’s Florida Derby day program at Gulfstream Park are all but set, including the main event, which features a confrontation between division leader Union Rags and leading Kentucky Derby contender El Padrino.
Saturday’s card did lose some of its luster with the announcement Sunday that the undefeated, Eclipse Award winner Awesome Feather would not run in the Grade 3 Rampart as scheduled. The Rampart was to feature the much anticipated duel between Awesome Feather and Grade 1 winner Awesome Maria.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jockey Dean Butler celebrated his 41st birthday last week by continuing to build on one of his best seasons at Tampa Bay Downs.
When Butler took the nightcap with Independent George on Sunday it gave him six winners for the four racing days last week, beginning on his birthday, Wednesday. Butler ran his win total for the meeting to 22, just six wins short of his best Tampa meeting ever.
Daddy Nose Best put himself in the Kentucky Derby picture on Sunday, when he wore down Isn’t He Clever for a three-quarter length win in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby.
“We came here trying to earn our way into the Kentucky Derby,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Daddy Nose Best for Bob and Cathy Zollars.
The Sunland Derby was the centerpiece of a seven-stakes card at Sunland. The races were worth a combined $1.6 million, making the program the richest of the meet in New Mexico.
Princess Arabella furthered her reputation as one of the nation’s top 3-year-old fillies on Sunday, when she drew off to an eight-length win in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. It was the second straight win in the race for Peachtree Stable, trainer Bob Baffert, and jockey Martin Garcia, who last year sent out Plum Pretty to a 25-length score one start prior to her win in the Kentucky Oaks.
Twelve Twenty Two improved her Sunland Park record to 7 for 7 on Sunday with a blowout 12 1/4-length win in the in the $100,000 Harry Henson Handicap. The one-mile race for fillies and mares was the first of seven stakes on what was the richest card of the meet. The races were worth a cumulative $1.6 million, and were highlighted by the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A month later than hoped, Vamo a Galupiar proved she is capable of a graded stakes win in this country in Sunday’s $150,000 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita.
A Group 1 winner in Chile in 2010, Vamo a Galupiar ($17.20) rallied wide through the stretch to win the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes by a half-length over 11-1 Wild Mia. Ridden by Mike Smith, Vamo a Galupiar ran 1 1/8 miles on a good turf course in 1:48.89. The race was run during a driving rainstorm.
Handsome Mike, fourth in Saturday’s Grade 3 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, is scheduled to make his next start in the $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 14, a last chance to gain a spot in the Kentucky Derby on May 5.
Handsome Mike was en route to Arkansas on Sunday, trainer Doug O’Neill said between races at Santa Anita.
“He’s headed to the Arkansas Derby as long as he’s training good,” O’Neill said.
A colt by Scat Daddy owned by Paul Reddam, Handsome Mike was beaten 6
