Chris Block’s next big coup on this circuit could well be the Alysheba Stakes on the May 6 Kentucky Oaks undercard. Block is pointing his handicap star, Giant Oak, to the Grade 3, $300,000 race. Giant Oak is now stabled at Churchill after wintering at Gulfstream Park, where he won the Grade 1 Donn Handicap in his first start after being awarded victory by disqualification in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap last fall at Churchill.
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DRF Past Performances
Whether he is dealing with professional or sporting endeavors, Mike Abraham is not afraid of a risk.
In the past, he was involved in real estate and oil and gas exploration. More recently, he has focused on racing and breeding Quarter Horses at his farm in Bosque, N.M., and the lucrative, but unpredictable, aspect of competing in major futurities and derbys in California and New Mexico.
“I never really thought of that,” he said of his willingness to take a chance.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jaycito was not among the six 3-year-olds entered to run Saturday at Keeneland in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes, but trainer Bob Baffert said he is hopeful the colt still will be able to run in the 137th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
“He just wasn’t quite ready for this,” Baffert said Wednesday morning from California. “We are still pointing for the Derby, though.”
Average daily handle at Sunland Park in New Mexico dropped 10 percent at the track’s recently concluded 77-day meet, according to figures provided by track officials. The drop accompanied a 3.3 percent decline in the track’s average daily purses, according to the figures.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Dino Condilenios thinks Teide is ready for a big effort when he makes his first start of the year in the $50,000 George Royal Stakes at Hastings Friday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for older horses attracted a full field of 11 horses, plus St Liams Halo on the also-eligible list. First post is 1:20 p.m.
Teide will need to be at his very best to defend his title in the George Royal. Noosa Beach, the 2010 horse of the year in the state of Washington, has been entered and will likely be favored.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The winter in New Orleans started with at least a couple of Kentucky Derby possibilities for Neil Howard, but that’s over. Ever the realist, Howard pulled the Derby plug on Machen, then Wilkinson, after each colt proved unworthy of advancing any further.
Trainer Reade Baker had entertained the idea of running Biofuel in Saturday’s six-furlong Whimsical after watching her breeze five furlongs in 59.40 seconds here last Wednesday. But, Baker has had second thoughts and now is eyeing the May 14 Hendrie for Biofuel’s seasonal bow. The Hendrie, like the Whimsical, offers Grade 3 status and a purse of $150,000.
“She’s going to miss a work this week, because she went too fast the other day,” said Baker, who conditions the Kentucky-bred Biofuel for owner/breeder Brereton C. Jones.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last spring, trainer Audre Cappuccitti feared that Essence Hit Man might not be up to the task when he made his seasonal bow in the Woodstock. Essence Hit Man not only won that race but doubled up in the Queenston, took the six-furlong Achievement here in July, and finished second in Saratoga’s Grade 2, 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam in August en route to finishing second in the Sovereign Award voting in the male sprinter category.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Bob Tiller and owner/breeder Frank DiGiulio began their 2001 trek to the Queen’s Plate with Win City when that gelding finished third in the Achievement, which then was the first sprint stakes of the meeting for the division. This year, the longtime partners could find themselves on the same road with Oh Canada, who won the six-furlong Woodstock in his seasonal bow here last Saturday.