Any debate regarding the leading 2-year-old Quarter Horse at Los Alamitos this spring is a short discussion.
Separate Fire was an impressive winner of a maiden race in her debut last month. Last Sunday, in time trials for the $339,600 Kindergarten Futurity on May 22, Separate Fire set a 300-yard track record of 15.1 seconds, breaking a year-old mark of 15.14 seconds set by Blues Girls Choice.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – An autopsy performed on Michael Baze did not reveal a cause of death, and a toxicology report for the 24-year-old jockey may not be available for up to three weeks, the Jefferson County, Ky., coroner’s office announced Wednesday.
Robby Albarado, who was taken off eventual Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom the day before the race, has picked up the mount on King Congie for the $1 million Preakness on May 21, a race in which he will face Animal Kingdom at Pimlico.
As the prospective field for the May 21 Preakness Stakes came into sharper focus on Wednesday, the horse they will all have to beat yet again, Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, returned to the track for his first piece of light training since Saturday’s Derby, jogging one mile at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, trainer Graham Motion said.
“He looks super, looks great,” Motion said.
There were two apprentice riders who won the first races of their careers Saturday at Lone Star Park. In the sixth race, Rodolfo De La Cruz Guerra guided The Real Story ($26.40) to victory in what was his first career mount. In the ninth race, Brayan Velazquez won for the first time with his fifth career mount, Come Slew Me ($3.40).
Velazquez, 18, is the older brother of Denny Velazquez, who was the leading apprentice at Fair Grounds this past winter with 11 wins. Denny, 17, is now riding in Indiana.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Horseplayers have embraced the low-takeout pick five wager introduced this spring at Hollywood Park. Three weeks into the meet, the 50-cent pick five has out-handled the traditional $2 pick six – $1.8 million to $1.7 million.
Call it a victory for the law of supply and demand. With a takeout rate of 14 percent, the pick five is the least expensive wager in California. Meanwhile, the pick-six takeout rate is 23.86 percent.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Once again, the out-of-towners from Kentucky Derby weekend left terrific parting gifts. When racing resumes Thursday at Churchill Downs after four dark days, horseplayers will be taking aim at carryover jackpots of $514,583 in the pick six and $220,430 in the super high five.
This is the eighth time in the last 10 years that Churchill has had a big pick-six carryover from the Derby. Since 2002, the only two years when the pick six has been won on Derby Day was 2006 and 2007. Last year, the carryover from Derby Day was $947,641, the highest from any Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. – A strong Thursday card is highlighted by $60,000 overnight stakes back to back, the Ziggy’s Boy for 3-year-olds on dirt and the Island Sun for older males on turf.
Three of the five entered in the seven-furlong Ziggy’s Boy drop from graded stakes – Arch Traveler out of the Florida Derby, The Fed Eased out of the Gotham and the Illinois Derby, and Free Entry out of the Tampa Bay Derby.
Trainer Andrew Leggio on Tuesday morning was doing a little homework. He was just starting to look into the next-race options for St. John’s River, who finished a fast-closing second in the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on Friday.
“We’re going to look and see what they’ve got floating around out there,” said Leggio, who trains St. John’s River for Dede McGehee. “We’ll look for something in about six weeks.”
Comma to the Top, who finished last of 19 in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday, will be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs in November, if a pending ankle operation does not require a lengthy recovery, trainer Peter Miller said Tuesday.
Comma to the Top is scheduled to undergo surgery next week to have a bone chip removed from an ankle by Dr. Wayne McIlraith at a clinic in Cypress, Calif. The projected recovery time ranges from six to eight weeks to three months, Miller said.
