ALBANY, Calif. – Trainer Billy Morey is looking forward to Thursday’s seventh race at Golden Gate Fields, a one-mile allowance that will see the comeback of Positive Response, Northern California’s top 3-year-old on the Kentucky Derby trail last year.
Positive Response has not raced since setting the pace and finishing eighth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes last March 26 at Turfway Park in Kentucky.
“Finally,” said Morey about the comeback.
The battle over south Florida racing dates may be back on.
On Tuesday, Hialeah Park, the south Florida racetrack that has not run a Thoroughbred meet since 2001, submitted a dates application to the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering seeking 22 Thoroughbred dates in April and May of 2013. The request is in direct conflict with the dates application submitted by Calder Race Course, leading to expectations that the two tracks will forcefully argue their cases for the dates over the next several weeks.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Thursday’s card with 64 betting interests – just more than seven per race – is that it will take place in March, which means spring is just around the corner.
One filly who will be sorry to see the winter meet end is Stephanie Jayne, a speedy filly with a tactical advantage against four off-the-pace rivals in race 3, an optional claimer with second-level allowance conditions that carries a purse of $69,000 – more than overnight stakes were worth last winter.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Now I Know, a Grade 3 winner of 6 of 7 starts who was recently retired because of injury, has been sold privately and was to ship from Oaklawn Park to Kentucky on Wednesday, said trainer Don Von Hemel, who raced the filly with Wayne Stockseth.
Now I Know was purchased by Sy and Bonnie Baskin, who operate Blue Heaven Farm, a commercial breeding operation in Lexington, Ky. They are a client of Vinery, said Steve Castagnola, the director of bloodstock services at Vinery who brokered the transaction with Pedigree Consultants.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Algorithms will not be one of the 23 separately listed 3-year-olds in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, even though the colt has not been definitively ruled out of contention for the 138th Derby on May 5. Pool 2 opens Friday at tracks and wagering outlets throughout North America for the usual three-day run.
Eclipse Award finalist Sassy Image was finally back on the work tab Monday, breezing an easy three furlongs in 37 seconds at Palm Meadows. Sassy Image has not started since finishing a distant sixth in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 27.
Sassy Image was sidelined after having a chip removed from her right hind ankle. A daughter of Broken Vow, she was a two-time Grade 1 winner last season for owner Jerry Romans and his brother, trainer Dale Romans, capturing both the Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs and Calder’s Princess Rooney Handicap.
Trainer Tony Dutrow said the only thing he was disappointed about following Grace Hall’s second-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 2 Davona Dale was the fact his filly did not win the race.
Grace Hall, the 4-5 favorite, disputed the pace from start to finish with ultimate winner Yara before dropping a tough neck decision in the 1 1/16-mile Davona Dale. It was Grace Hall’s first start since her second-place finish behind division champion My Miss Aurelia in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
The New York-bred Giant Ryan, winner of six consecutive races in 2011 including the Grade 1 Vosburgh, will skip the Tom Fool and make his seasonal debut in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen at Medyan on March 31, owner Shivananda Parbhoo said Sunday.
Giant Ryan has not run since finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last November. Parbhoo said he doesn’t feel the horse needs a prep race before the Golden Shaheen.
The last time Capt. Candyman Can raced in New York, he was elevated from second to first by the stewards in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop in Saratoga. That was nearly three years ago.
Capt. Candyman Can is eyeing another Grade 1 sprint in New York – the Carter on April 7 – and is using Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap as a stepping-stone.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Trainer Roger Brueggemann claims to have pioneered a Hawthorne trend. Brueggeman used to be about the only person parked during training hours at a spot in Hawthorne’s lot situated midway through the homestretch that affords a decent view of the entire racetrack. Now, he says, you have to get to the little nook early in order to find a place to park.
And really, local horsemen would be foolish not to do like Brueggeman right now.
