Zoobilee will be seeking her sixth straight win Saturday night in the $70,000 Val’s Fortune at Delta Downs. The 400-yard race is a restricted Grade 2 for 3-year-olds and up bred in Louisiana.
Zoobilee’s streak began at Evangeline in November, when she won an allowance. She proceeded to win four consecutive stakes at Fair Grounds, Louisiana Downs, and Delta, one of them over males in December.
Jockey Jacky Martin qualified three runners to the Grade 1 Ruidoso Derby for Quarter Horses, and will be aboard Prospect to the Top when the $702,650 finale is run Saturday. The purse is a record for the 400-yard race, which serves as the first of three major derbies this meet at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.
Prospect to the Top was the second-fastest qualifier for the Ruidoso Derby behind Giorgino, who was also ridden in the trials by Martin. He also qualified Jd Baccarat.
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Though he hasn’t yet won a graded stakes, it seems like just a matter of time for Trappe Shot, who figures to vie for favoritism with the entry of D’ Funnybone and This Ones for Phil in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 True North Handicap at six furlongs at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – When Corey Nakatani rides Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, it will be just his third mount in the third leg of the Triple Crown. The others were Green Alligator, who finished 10th in 1991, and Buckle Down Ben, who finished seventh in 2001.
Nehro is trained by Steve Asmussen, and that duo has teamed up to win at a 30 percent clip since the beginning of 2010.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Uptowncharlybrown, the horse who finished fifth in last year’s Belmont Stakes but was ordered unplaced by the stewards after he failed to carry the appropriate weight throughout the race, is expected to arrive at Belmont Park on Sunday, where he will continue training toward a comeback.
The horse will be trained by Linda White, who was the assistant for Alan Seewald, the colt’s trainer before he died in April 2010. Kiaran McLaughlin trained Uptowncharlybrown for the Belmont Stakes.
Jockeys Ramon Dominguez and Jesus Castanon, both of whom will ride in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, appeared on Howard Stern’s immensely popular satellite radio show Wednesday, in a 15-minute segment laced with profanity that included frank discussions about weight management, rider’s earnings, and racetrack groupies.
ELMONT, N.Y. – If Edgar Prado is able to pull off another upset in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, not only will it make him just the 10th rider to win this race at least three times, but he may actually be able to enjoy the victory.
ELMONT, N.Y. − It’s not a stretch to suggest what Calvin Borel is to Churchill Downs, John Velazquez is to Belmont Park.
Since the retirement of Pat Day, Borel has become the master of Churchill Downs, especially in the track’s biggest race, the Kentucky Derby, which he has won three of the last five years. While Velazquez hasn’t been quite as successful in the Belmont Stakes − he is 1 for 14 − his overall knowledge, experience, and record of success here is vast.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Lil Cherokee could become the latest stakes winner for his dam, Western Lil, on Saturday, when he starts as the probable favorite in the $100,000 colts and geldings division of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity at Lone Star Park.
The five-furlong race will share a card with the $100,000 fillies division of the TTA Sales Futurity. This is the first year there were no trials, and had there been overflow entries, first preference would have been gone to horses with the highest earnings. As it stands, each field drew nine runners.
