When he was an assistant to Bobby Frankel, trainer Chad Brown was around Leroidesanimaux, the turf star now better known as the sire of Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby winner.
“He was a real tough horse,” Brown recalled Wednesday. “That horse, he always trained well on dirt, but he was on such a roll on the turf that we kept him on it. So it didn’t surprise me that Animal Kingdom liked it.”
BALTIMORE - Course condition figures to be a huge key for Friday’s $75,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes, which drew an inscrutable field of 14, but one that likely be reduced sharply by scratches. Scott Lake has already scratched his pair of Ju Jitsu Jax and Rusty Charlie out of the five-furlong turf race.
BALTIMORE - Rose Catherine, one of the top female turf sprinters in the country last year, returns to the turf and takes on local grass sprint specialist Suzzona in the $75,000 The Very One Stakes, part of the Black-Eyed Susan undercard Friday at Pimlico.
Rose Catherine comes off a fourth-place finish in the Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland, a race that was moved from turf to Polytrack because of heavy rain. In her only other start this year, she was fourth when facing males like the top-class Bridgetown in a money allowance at Gulfstream.
BALTIMORE – Mike Trombetta took Strike the Moon to south Florida this winter because he thought she was a stakes-caliber filly. A physical issue delayed her return to the races, so now Trombetta will find out if he’s correct when Strike the Moon runs in Friday’s $75,000 Miss Preakness Stakes at six furlongs.
The presence of Awesome Maria apparently scared off most of the competition from Saturday’s Grade 2 Shuvee Handicap at Belmont Park.
Although 25 fillies and mares were nominated to the $150,000, one-mile Shuvee, just four challengers for Awesome Maria appeared in the entry box on Wednesday, and one of those, Happy week, is a Todd Pletcher stablemate.
Among the notable absentees from the Shuvee is multiple stakes winner Harissa, whose connections were reportedly pointing to this race after skipping the Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard two weeks ago.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The horses arrived safely from Newmarket, England, and five of the six of them are settled in and doing well. Now it’s time for trainer Gerard Butler to get a more definitive line on how his interesting Arlington Park experiment will turn out.
BALTIMORE – Graham Motion has had a few things to do this week. Making raceday accommodations for family and friends. Dodging the raindrops that keep falling at his Fair Hill training base. Saying the right things to the media. And, oh yes, getting a colt named Animal Kingdom ready for the 136th Preakness at Pimlico.
PREAKNESS STAKES 2011: Contender profiles, news updates, video, and odds >>
Toby’s Corner, upset winner of the Wood Memorial who was forced to miss the Kentucky Derby due to lameness in his right hind leg, was to begin walking under tack on Thursday at trainer Graham Motion’s barn at the Fair Hill Training Center.
Toby’s Corner underwent a nuclear bone scan on Tuesday at the New Bolton Equine Clinic and the results did not show any structural damage. Motion said Dr. Dean Richardson gave him the green light to begin putting the tack on the colt, who was to ship back to Fair Hill on Wednesday afternoon.
BALTIMORE – It was the biggest win of his training career, but at the time trainer Tom Albertrani couldn’t truly enjoy it.
When Bernardini roared to a 5 1/4-length victory in the 2006 Preakness Stakes, the performance was overshadowed by the shocking breakdown of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who had been pulled up by jockey Edgar Prado as the field passed the finish line the first time with an injury to his right hind leg.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When Silver Rock and Let’s Do It were entered in an entry-level allowance on turf at Keeneland on April 9, the race was split, drawing so many horses the racing office divided the entries into two races.
Silver Rock and Let’s Do It ended up in different divisions, and each did their part by registering come-from-behind victories.
