Rain began falling after the fourth race, and the field for race 5 was held in the paddock as especially strong rain passed over the track. Race 5 was run in a downpour, but the plug was pulled on the rest of the card shortly after that race was made official.
There were no stakes scheduled on Saturday's program.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. –The first word out of trainer Graham Motion’s mouth after his Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom cruised to an easy win launching his comeback in Saturday’s fifth race at Gulfstream Park was “exhale.” For the rest of us, it was “Wow!”
Daisy Devine and Cherokee Queen both seem to love New Orleans. But while most New Orleans lovers will have found their way into the French Quarter on Tuesday afternoon, as the Mardi Gras celebration crests, Daisy Devine and Cherokee Queen have work to do. The pair will start as the likely favorites in the Tuesday feature at Fair Grounds, the $75,000 Mardi Gras Stakes.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park is having a two-for-one special on graded earnings Monday.
The Southwest Stakes, the track’s first major prep for 3-year-olds, has been split into two divisions after 21 horses were entered Saturday. Each race will be a Grade 3 worth $250,000. Longview Drive and Junebugred will break side by side in the first division, which will go as the eighth race with a field of 11. Secret Circle leads the second division, set as the ninth race and the second half of a special daily double linking the twin Southwests.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – One reason Tony Dutrow preferred running Marilyn’s Guy in the As Indicated Stakes rather than the Stymie on Saturday at Aqueduct was he didn’t want to run the horse 1 1/8 miles off an 11-month layoff.
Considering the trip he had, Marilyn’s Guy may have run farther than nine furlongs, yet still had enough to win a stirring stretch drive with 1-4 favorite San Pablo to take the one-mile As Indicated by a nose. The As Indicated replaced the Stymie as Saturday’s feature.
Dullahan finally returned to the work tab here at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, breezing an easy five furlongs in 1:01.80 from the half-mile to mile pole before galloping out three-quarters around the turn in 1:15.62. It was the first official work for Dullahan, who missed a couple weeks of training since Jan. 14, due to a cough.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice will be out of action indefinitely following his eighth place-finish here at Gulfstream Park last weekend in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap.
“He’s already on the farm in Kentucky,” trainer Kelly Breen said. “He came out of the race a little banged up so we decided to give him 45 days off. He really hasn’t had a break since his 2-year-old season and he needs some R and R. It’s a long year. We’ll just point to have him back and ready to go in the fall when they run most of the bigger races for older horses.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Paul Aguirre has been fined $2,000 and suspended five days in a stipulated agreement with the California Horse Racing Board after admitting to altering the registration papers of a horse who won a race in which he was not eligible last summer.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Mike Smith was aboard the 4-year-old filly Cambina for the first time in a three-furlong workout at Santa Anita last Thursday. It was a get-to-know session for Smith before Monday’s $150,000 Buena Vista Handicap for fillies and mares over a mile on turf.
“I got a feel of her balance and what it takes to get her to relax,” Smith said. “It’s nice to get a feel of her. I could tell that she has a good turn of foot. I didn’t need to use that.”
The headlines entering Monday’s Grade 2, $200,000 General George Handicap at Laurel Park focus on the return of Wood Memorial winner Toby’s Corner to the races after a 10-month layoff. Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. hopes to put a different twist on the story when the seven-furlong dirt race is over.
Dutrow, who grew up in Maryland and worked for his father, the highly-respected Richard Dutrow Sr., hopes to spoil Toby’s Corner’s return with either of his uncoupled runners, Yawanna Twist or This Ones for Phil.
