The connections of Princess Arabella on Sunday will be following a path to the Kentucky Oaks that worked for them last year when they start their undefeated filly in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. It was in this race a year ago that Peachtree Stable, trainer Bob Baffert, and jockey Martin Garcia sent out Plum Pretty for a 25-length win in advance of her victory in the Kentucky Oaks.
As the Kentucky Derby preps move to 1 1/8 miles, distance can become a stumbling block for many 3-year-olds. But the trainers of both Castaway and Daddy Nose Best welcome the distance of Sunday’s Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby.
“I think Castaway will like the mile and an eighth,” Bob Baffert said.
“The distance definitely seems to suit Daddy Nose Best,” said Steve Asmussen.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bourbon Bay was left with too much to do in the stretch of the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 11, closing from last in a field of six to finish fourth behind Slim Shadey.
Those two meet again in Sunday’s $150,000 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita, and this time race circumstances could be different. Bourbon Bay, a 6-year-old gelding trained by Neil Drysdale, is proven over the San Luis Rey distance of 1 1/2 miles on turf, while the 4-year-old Slim Shadey, trained by Simon Callaghan, is running that far for the first time.
ARCADIA, Calif. – An outside post for City to City in Sunday’s 11-runner, $150,000 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita left trainer Jerry Hollendorfer unimpressed.
“Nice post, huh?” he said Thursday when entries were drawn.
No, the draw may not be ideal, but Hollendorfer can take consolation with City to City’s last performance, a victory in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Handicap on Feb. 20.
In that race over a mile on turf, jockey Corey Nakatani brought City to City into a prominent position with a three-wide rally on the turn.
Daisy Devine, winner of the Pago Hop and the Mardi Gras stakes during the ongoing meet at Fair Grounds, will be forced to miss the $100,000 Bayou Handicap next Saturday after contracting a skin disease.
Daisy Devine, trainer Andrew McKeever said, already has been shipped from Fair Grounds to Keeneland. McKeever remains hopeful of being able to make the Jenny Wiley Stakes there with Daisy Devine, a six-time winner of nearly $600,000.
Tiz Moe has edge if feature moves to dirt
Golden Gate Fields racing secretary David Jerkens has announced two changes to the spring meet stakes schedule. The $75,000 Golden Poppy will be pushed back one day to Sunday, May 6, from Saturday, May 5, and the Grade 3, $100,000 Berkeley on May 28 will be run as a handicap race rather than a stakes.
Jerkens said that switching dates for the Golden Poppy to move it away from Kentucky Derby Day could provide fans two big days.
As long as the prospective stakes fields hold together during the next week, Fair Grounds’s 2011-2012 race meeting is going out with a loud bang.
A field that might swell to 13, headed by Risen Star stakes runner-up Mark Valeski, is expected for the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, the featured race on the Sunday, April 1 finale, while the $500,000 New Orleans Handicap could wind up with the deepest cast in the older-route-horse division so far this season.
Springtime racing at Los Alamitos seems to bring out the best in the Quarter Horse filly This Boogie Fires.
Last year, she beat maidens in her debut in April, won a division of the time trials for the Kindergarten Futurity on May 8, and finished third in the final two weeks later.
On March 17, days before the official start of spring, she made her second start of 2012 in the time trials for the $214,300 La Primera Del Ano Derby and set the fastest qualifying time of 19.78 seconds for the 400-yard race. The final is on April 6.
Trainer Scooter Davis has the numbers stacked in his favor for the semifinals of the Charles Town Starter Tournament on Saturday night.
Davis has three runners, including Pure Rey, an easy winner in his quarter-final heat, for the first of two $30,000 races at seven furlongs and Disco Indy, a six-time winner in 2011, for the second division. That gives Davis four shots among the 17 horses vying for 10 spots in the finals.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Compliance Officer, the former claimer turned multiple stakes winner, recently rejoined trainer Bruce Brown’s Belmont Park barn and is nearing a return to the work tab.
Claimed for $25,000 last May, Compliance Officer won 6 of 7 starts, including 4 stakes. After finishing 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Compliance Officer won the Claiming Crown Jewel at Fair Grounds in December.
Brown said the $125,000 Kingston for New York-breds at Belmont on May 27 would be Compliance Officer’s first objective. Brown would likely try to find a race beforehand.
