ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Portside will go back to a route off a victory in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes on Sunday at Woodbine in the La Lorgnette Stakes, a $150,000 event for 3-year-old fillies.
Portside had a winter campaign at Aqueduct, where she captured a six-furlong maiden race Jan. 30. She subsequently placed in two mile and 70-yard stakes on the inner track, which included a neck loss to R Holiday Mood in the Out Ruled.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Senor Rojo looked spectacular this spring while preparing for his first start of the year in the $50,000 George Royal for 3-year-olds and up.
Not considered a sprinter, Senor Rojo was sent off at 10-1. He ran to his looks, however, finishing a fast-closing second to Grade 3 Longacres Mile winner Noosa Beach in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint.
Senor Rojo will still be sprinting when he returns in the 6 1/2-furlong John Longden 6000 on Monday, May 23, and it is safe to say he will be a lot less than 10-1.
Tiny Giant, one of the top 2-year-olds in Alberta in 2009, won just a single race as a 3-year-old last year. His trainer, Joan Petrowski, said she wasn’t disappointed with Tiny Giant despite the big difference in productivity - $81,775 in 2009 compared to $26,400 last year.
“You’re happy with whatever you get,” said Petrowski.
Tiny Giant could get off to a productive start when he makes his seasonal debut in Sunday’s feature at Northlands Park. He drew the rail in a 3 1/2-furlong $40,000 optional claiming race that drew seven horses.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Paul Attard has gotten off to a good start here at Woodbine this spring, clicking with three of the first 11 entrants he has started. Attard, 29, has some potentially exciting days on his horizon with a group of promising 3-year-olds in his barn among the 21 head he has stabled here.
Attard is the son of Sid Attard, who is perennially among the leading trainers here. He has been training since 2002 and will be looking for the third stakes win of his career when he sends out Anne’s Beauty for Sunday’s $150,000 La Lorgnette.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four of the five older sprinters in the Sunday feature at Churchill Downs show triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures on their past performances. So what’s the name of this stakes race that attracted such a wealth of equine talent?
Actually, it’s a six-furlong allowance race with a $59,800 purse.
“For the money, it sure came up a tough one,” said trainer Steve Margolis, who will send out Cash Refund, the 9-5 morning-line favorite, in the third of 10 Sunday races.
OPELOUSAS, La. - Jockey Tracy Hebert was badly injured at Evangeline Downs on Wednesday evening when his mount fell and Hebert was hit by a trailing horse. Hebert is in Opelousas General Hospital with multiple injuries, including two punctured lungs, a broken breastbone, and a broken nose. He also broke all of the ribs on his left side, according to his agent, Huey Lyons.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The pick six and super high five both proved solvable on the first day of racing at Churchill Downs after the Kentucky Derby.
Ten winning tickets, each worth a healthy $147,507 on a $2 bet, were sold Thursday at Churchill Downs on the pick six, which started the day with a carryover of just more than $500,000 before another $1.6 million was bet into the pool. Five of six winners returned $643.20.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The Grade 1 winner Rail Trip is on the comeback trail.
Away from the races since finishing fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Rail Trip has breezed four times for trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. and is nearing a return to the races.
Dutrow said that Rail Trip had a significant issue with the frog, or the bottom of his right front foot, that kept him sidelined for several months.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Arch Traveler has the pedigree and the body type to suggest that he will go a distance of ground, but the 3-year-old colt demonstrated again on Thursday that shorter races may be his forte.
Under Jose Lezcano, Arch Traveler slipped through an opening along the rail in mid-stretch, then spurted clear to win Thursday's $60,000 Ziggy’s Boy Stakes by three lengths. Glickman, who set the pace under Eddie Castro, finished second by three-quarters of a length over the late-running Rocking Out. Free Entry and The Fed Eased completed the order of finish.
