INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A familiar dilemma recurs Thursday at Hollywood Park, where the right horse will race the wrong distance in the race 7 feature.
Veteran sprinter Subpoena the Dress stretches to a distance of ground for the first time in her career in a turf route for California-bred fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
“It’s my only concern, the route of ground,” trainer A.C. Avila admits.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Everyone in Thursday’s $60,000 Key to the Bridge overnight stakes at Belmont Park raced at Calder, Gulfstream Park, and/or Tampa Bay Downs during the winter and early spring.
Strike It Rich, the only graded stakes winner among the seven turf-meant fillies and mares, is the 5-2 morning-line choice. She was unable, however, to hold clear early leads in both Florida starts for Christophe Clement, and appears somewhat vulnerable drawn in between Becky’s Exchange and Ainamaa, who also have early speed.
MIAMI – Trainer Bill Kaplan could have ended up spending Sunday night second-guessing himself after opting to pass Saturday’s Sara’s Success Stakes on the grass with Musical Romance in lieu of the 5 1/2-furlong Ema Bovary the following afternoon. Instead, the veteran horseman looked like a genius after his versatile filly rallied to catch the 6-5 Bella Moneta to win the Ema Bovary by a nose.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A horseplayer at Sunland Park in New Mexico invested $96 into the Hollywood Park pick six on Saturday and scored one of the biggest pick-six payoffs in track history. A ticket that singled Cute N Sassy ($18.20) in race 7 and May Day Rose ($7) in race 10 produced a major payoff of $733,186.40, the 10th-highest pick six at Hollywood.
What do millionaires Bold Chieftain and Delightful Kiss have to prove in Monday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Berkeley Handicap?
Nothing, according to trainers Bill Morey Jr. and Aggie Ordonez.
They are right, of course, although it might be at least poetic justice if Bold Chieftain could win the race after losing by a head to Autism Awareness in 2009 and by the same margin to Run It last year.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – St Trinians will have a different rider for the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap on June 18, trainer Mike Mitchell confirmed Tuesday. The 6-year-old mare won the Grade 2 Milady Handicap on Saturday, but was disqualified from first and placed fourth after drifting in under the right-handed whip of jockey Joe Talamo.
“They all make mistakes,” Mitchell said. “I love Joe, but I’m going to have to make a change. She had the whole outside of the track, and she will respond to a left-handed whip.”
Jockey Michael Martinez, who sustained extensive spinal injuries in a Sept. 12 spill at Golden Gate Fields, has gotten governmental approval to travel to Switzerland to participate in a stem-cell research study conducted by the University of Zurich’s Balgrist Hospital.
Martinez has received his green card as a resident of the United States, enabling his return to the country, as well as a U.S. passport.
Robin Barrett, the local director of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, met with Martinez personally and accompanied him to get his passport.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Folks who were here for the near-monsoons leading up to the Kentucky Derby will be shocked by this, but it’s raining here again. In fact, after starting up again Monday night, intermittent rains are supposed to carry all the way into Friday, meaning turf racing could be very much in doubt when racing resumes Thursday at Churchill Downs following three dark days.
Yavapai Downs will apparently be able to conduct its annual summer season beginning Saturday after a tentative agreement was reached to keep the northern Arizona track from shutting down, according to a report in the Prescott Daily Courier.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brass Hat, the venerable gelding who earned nearly $2.2 million while becoming a sentimental favorite of racing fans in Kentucky and beyond, has been retired at age 10, it was announced Tuesday morning by owner-breeder Fred Bradley and his son, trainer Buff Bradley.
