LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky Derby history can come in all degrees, and two of the six 3-year-olds in the Sunday feature at Churchill Downs can claim tiny ones to the 2011 running.
Meistersinger owns something of an ignominious stake – he was part of a botched workout at Keeneland with Animal Kingdom two Saturdays before his Team Valor International stablemate captured the Derby.
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OCEANPORT, N.J. – With a race under his belt, Awesome Son should be sharper Sunday in the $75,000 Longfellow Stakes at Monmouth Park.
He had not run since last July, when he contested the Decathlon Stakes here on opening day. Trainer Tim Kelly had hoped that a series of solid works would have the 4-year-old gelding ready for a winning effort.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There are many questions to be answered in Sunday’s $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes, a key prep for the June 26 Queen’s Plate, but perhaps the most important ones involve two of the favorites: Can the speedy Bear’s Chill stay the nine-furlong distance, and will the lightly raced Check Your Soul continue to improve?
Bear’s Chill, a huge son of Artie Schiller, graduated second time out traveling seven furlongs Dec. 4. Trainer Reade Baker ran him once over the winter, which was a flat fourth-place finish in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer on the grass at Gulfstream.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Post times at Fort Erie change this week for Monday and Tuesday cards. The switch to twilight racing means the first race of the day will go off at 4 p.m.
First post time for Sunday racing will remain at 12:45 p.m. throughout the year.
Elissa Blowe, the track’s media and marketing manager, is looking forward to the new schedule, as are many local fans.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Most of the veterans in the Churchill Downs jockey colony have been riding here for years. One notable exception at the 2011 spring meet is Manny Cruz, a 41-year-old Brazilian who was a perennial leading rider at Calder in south Florida before deciding to ride regularly here for the first time.
It is hard to get past Indoctrination in a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds that will serve as the feature race at Northlands Park Sunday. The six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds drew six horses but it appears the other five are running for second money.
One note of caution to chalk players: Indoctrination looked like death and taxes when he finished second to Dollarwaitnonadime in his first start at Northlands and in Canada on May 21.
AUBURN, Wash. – There’s no stakes race Sunday at Emerald Downs, but the featured ninth race, a first-level optional allowance for 3-year-olds, includes a handful of runners who could be destined for stakes this summer. The race attracted eight entrants who’ll vie over 6-1/2 furlongs for a share of the $17,600 purse. First post is 2 p.m. Pacific.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – With the likely defection of Dollarwaitnonadime, Avulsion, Jump Up and Kissme, and Inhisglory look like the main players in the $50,000 River Rock Casino at Hastings Sunday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds drew seven horses, but according to trainer Greg Tracy, Dollarwaitnonadime developed a temperature and will not make the trip from Northlands Park.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – If it’s not one thing with Tanda, it is something else. A chipped ankle ended her 2010 campaign; foot trouble stalled her 2011 return; a troubled trip cost her any chance two weeks ago.
And still, Tanda marches forward. Sunday at Hollywood Park, the 4-year-old Tanda drops in class and switches surfaces in the $70,000 Redondo Beach for fillies and mares at a mile on turf.
“We’ll try to get a good mile race in her, and see where we’re at,” trainer Dan Hendricks said.
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The La Lorgnette Stakes and the Fury Stakes, won this year by Inglorious and Roxy Gap, respectively, are the traditional stepping-stones to the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks.
