LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rusty Arnold had a very hot hand last week at Churchill. From seven starters, Arnold won a Thursday race with Cadillac Candy, then went 3 for 3 Friday with Grand Oak, Late September, and El Kabong. He capped things off Saturday by winning the Louisville Stakes with Cellist, one of his two starters in the Grade 3 turf race.
“It’s nice to have a run like that because it can dry up in a hurry,” said Arnold, who saddled his first winner in 1975.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Letruska, the filly-mare dirt champion of 2021, had her second breeze since she won the April 23 Apple Blossom, going five furlongs in 59.40 seconds Monday at Churchill.
Fausto Gutierrez confirmed the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on the June 11 Belmont Stakes undercard as the next race for Letruska, whose career record now stands at a remarkable 19 for 25. Letruska won the Phipps last year as the 6-5 favorite. Before her latest score in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom, she was an easy winner of the Feb. 26 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park in her 6-year-old debut.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eric Reed, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, began this week with 9,115 starts spread among 44 different tracks in his 37-year training career, but zero at Pimlico. And after watching the 147th Preakness from his old Kentucky home Saturday evening, he has no regrets.
“The way the race turned out, I’m glad we weren’t there,” Reed said Sunday. “You saw what happened to Epicenter, and he has a whole lot more early speed than us.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Diego Herrera, who ranked fifth in the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting through Sunday, will miss six days of racing later this month and in early June for whip violations incurred over the weekend.
Herrera, 18, was cited for using his whip more than the permitted six times on Pequena Tormenta, who finished third in the sixth race on Friday, and Zahra who finished second in the sixth race on Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - After two wins in Grade 3 races this year, Canoodling has earned a start in a Grade 1 race on turf in the $400,000 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on May 30.
The level of competition and distance of the Gamely will be a test for Canoodling, who won the Megahertz Stakes in January and the Wilshire Stakes on May 1 from the front. Those races were at a mile on turf.
“The distance situation is a question,” trainer Mike Puype said Sunday. “She’ll be the speed of the race.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tahoma, the first U.S. starter for 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, recorded a convincing win by two lengths in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Santa Anita on Sunday despite a wide trip.
Sent off favored, Tahoma ($3.80) broke from post 7 in a field of eight and raced four-wide on the turn before taking the lead with a furlong remaining under Juan Hernandez.
“The inside horses were fast,” Hernandez said. “I sat outside and tried to keep up with them. At the quarter-pole, he changed leads and picked it up and passed those horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Brickyard Ride will have his second start of the year in a graded stakes next Sunday in the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita in an attempt to extend a winning streak to five races.
Trainer Craig Lewis and owner and breeder Sonny Pais had four race options at Santa Anita on Saturday and Sunday, two of which are stakes for California-breds. Lewis said the $200,000 purse of the Triple Bend at seven furlongs was a deciding factor.
“It’s quite demanding to win five in a row,” Lewis said. “We’re hoping he’s up to that.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Jessica Pyfer, the champion apprentice of 2021, took off her mounts at Santa Anita on Sunday citing residual soreness from a kick sustained in the paddock on Friday.
Pyfer, 24, said she intends to resume riding next Saturday. She is not booked to ride this Friday’s program.
Pyfer was kicked on her right hip when she attempted to mount Tricky Ricky in the walking ring. Pyfer was briefly hospitalized on Friday, but was released after precautionary X-rays showed no damage.
When the unraced 2-year-old colt Salta worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds from the gate at Santa Anita on May 14, trainer Keith Desormeaux knew it was time to find a debut race.
Desormeaux has entered Salta in a maiden special weight race at 4 1/2 furlongs on Sunday, opting for a May launch to the colt’s career instead of a race in June.
Desormeaux described the quick workout as “a convincing factor.”
BALTIMORE – Following his breakthrough victory in Friday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special, First Captain could be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban Stakes on July 9 at Belmont Park, part-owner Terry Finley said Saturday morning.
Finley said he spoke briefly with trainer Shug McGaughey following the race and said a potential plan could be the Suburban followed by the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 3 at Saratoga. Both races are run at 1 1/4 miles.
