LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike had his first workout since finishing fourth in the Aug. 27 Travers at Saratoga when going five furlongs Tuesday in 1:02.40 at the Mercury training center of trainer Eric Reed.
“He skipped right across there,” said Reed. “He’s real fresh right now, doing really well. He came out of the Travers super good.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Damon’s Mound, one of the most promising 2-year-old colts in the eastern half of the U.S., will put his glitzy record on the line Saturday as a heavy favorite among a field of nine in the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Trainer Michelle Lovell said Wednesday that Damon’s Mound “is doing super. He’s ready for his stretch-out.”
Ain’t Life Grand is being pointed for the $100,000 Iowa Breeders’ Derby next month at Prairie Meadows, trainer Kelly Von Hemel said Tuesday.
The 1 1/16-mile race is part of the Iowa Classic card Oct. 1. The program features seven stakes for Iowa-breds, with each worth $100,000.
All-sources handle reached $579.2 million at the 31-day summer meeting at Del Mar, which ended on Sunday, a figure that includes simulcasting during a brief period before the season began on July 22.
Handle rose 1.5 percent over the corresponding period in the summer of 2021, the track said in a statement.
Attendance for the 31-day season was 278,702, a 16.1 percent increase from 240,030 in 2021.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Joel Rosario, the 2021 Eclipse champion jockey who last year set a Kentucky Downs single-meet record for wins (17) and mount earnings ($2.95 million), will sit out Sept. 18, 21, and 22 after being suspended for three days for a riding infraction that led to the disqualification of his mount, Happy Gal, from second to fifth in the sixth race Thursday.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Kentucky-breds tend to dominate racing here and elsewhere in the United States, but it was horses bred in other jurisdictions that kept finding their way to the winner’s circle Saturday at Kentucky Downs, leading to a massive amount of bonus money left unclaimed.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Mike Maker must be a great poker player. Nobody can ever tell what he’s thinking or feeling, the same blank expression betraying what’s actually going on in his mind.
It happened again Saturday at Kentucky Downs, with Maker standing stoically in the winner’s circle while joyful chaos erupted all around him. Maker had just sent out the winner in the Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup for a record fifth time, but who could tell? He might as well as have just watched one of his horses finish fourth in a $10,000 claiming race.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Turning into the stretch, Cave Rock and Havnameltdown had Sunday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity to themselves, the two colts well clear of seven rivals. The only suspense involving their duel was whether Havnameltdown could challenge Cave Rock. Either way, owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman and trainer Bob Baffert would win.
Havnameltdown tried to keep pace, but was no match for the brilliant Cave Rock, who drew away under leading rider Juan Hernandez to win by 5 1/4 lengths in stakes-record time of 1:20.99 for seven furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Despite her career-defining win in Saturday’s Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes at Del Mar, Avenue de France may not run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 5.
Trainer Leonard Powell said on Monday that he will take a week to assess race goals in coming months for Avenue de France, but was leaning away from the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
“The Breeders’ Cup is a different ballgame with the Europeans,” Powell said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mackinnon, a two-time stakes winner in 2021 who has struggled in a limited campaign this year, is being transferred from trainer Doug O’Neill in California to Chad Brown in New York this week, co-owner Erik Johnson and O’Neill said over the weekend.
In a text message, Johnson cited “more turf options” on the East Coast as the “only reason behind decision.”
“Doug did a great job with him. Doug is still my trainer.”
