ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Elite Alex, based at Delaware Park with trainer Tim Ritchey, has joined the ranks of candidates for the June 26 Queen’s Plate.
With the New York-based Queen’splatekitten and Bowman’s Causeway and the Kentucky-based Maple Leaf Kitten also having the $1 million Queen’s Plate on their agendas, the number of American-based runners in the 158th running of Canada’s most famous horse race could reach its highest level to date.
Hint of Majic, who made his career debut last month at Lone Star Park, is literally a horse of a different color. He is one of just 178 palomino-colored Thoroughbreds registered with the Jockey Club, which last year alone registered about 30,000 foals. The organization began recognizing the palomino, or “golden-yellow” coat color, in 2003.
“Most people think he is a Quarter Horse,” Dawn Lawhorn, who bred and owns Hint of Majic, said of the color more associated with Quarter Horses.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Marklee Z. Buchanan is a new rider on the Fort Erie scene, and he has already brought home four winners in 27 starts. That 14 percent win mark is beginning to attract other trainers as Buchanan, at the age of 33, tries to build a career at the border oval.
“I do not have the apprentice bug,” said Buchanan, “as I rode a number of years at Jamaica’s Caymanas Park, winning well over 100 races.”
“Riding in Jamaica was a challenging experience, and I feel confident that it gave me the necessary skills to bring home winners at the Fort.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Tom Bush hopes he made the right call for Get Stormy when he opted to skip the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park, his home track, in favor of the Grade 3, $250,000 Monmouth Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park.
The Monmouth Stakes is the prep for the meet’s premier grass stakes: the Grade 1 United Nations on July 2.
Bush considered several factors, and distance was a key concern. The Manhattan on Saturday was 1 1/4 miles; the Monmouth Stakes is 1 1/8 miles and appears a better fit for Get Stormy.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – There are no stakes races on Sunday’s card at Hastings, but a couple of first-level, $50,000 optional claiming races for 3-year-olds are worth a closer look.
The third race drew six colts and geldings going 1 1/16 miles, and Ascot Graduation winner Too Much Dirt could end up being a modest favorite. Too Much Dirt is trained by Craig MacPherson who also trains Belle of Evangeline, the possible favorite in the seventh race for 3-year-old fillies.
Separate Fire, the undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Kindergarten Futurity on May 22, is the leading 2-year-old Quarter Horse among a massive 27-horse string that trainer Paul Jones will start in 12 divisions of the Ed Burke Million Futurity trials at Los Alamitos on Sunday evening. For the record there are 76 horses starting for other trainers in the trials.
“We’ll be busy,” Jones said.
AUBURN, Wash. – A fleet of sprinters will try to outrun some hard-knocking routers Sunday at Emerald Downs in the $50,000 Washington State Legislators Handicap. At 6 1/2 furlongs, it’s the final one-turn race for fillies and mares on the 2011 stakes schedule, and the owners and trainers of the 11 runners share a similar goal – to remain relevant as the distances get longer over the balance of the meeting.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A little more than a year ago, Awesome Act was 11-1 to win the Kentucky Derby.
Now all he seeks is respectability. A prime chance to restore lost luster comes Sunday, when Awesome Act heads a short field in the nominal feature at Churchill Downs, a $57,900, second-level allowance that anchors a 10-race card.
Santa Anita will refurbish its main track this summer to reduce the clay content and add sand, a project that could begin in the next week in a test plot in the seven-furlong chute, pending ongoing discussions between the racetrack and the California Horse Racing Board.
Track president George Haines said Friday that conversations with the racing board are focusing on the details for the renovation, which would be done on a portion of the track not required for daily training.
AUBURN, Wash. – Cliff’s Secret is one of the fastest horses at Emerald Downs, an undefeated sprinter with a big-time pedigree, yet many observers, even those closest to the horse, are conflicted about her true ability.
