Jockey Pedro Rodriguez, 44, collected the 2,000th victory of his career when he guided Nurse Kiki to a 4 1/2-length victory in Tuesday’s first race at Finger Lakes.
Rodriguez, a native of Cuba, completed a sweep of the early daily double by riding Doodlin to victory in the second race for win No. 2,001. He ranks third in the Finger Lakes jockey standings with 16 wins.
Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore has been re-accredited by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance in advance of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. Pimlico is the third track to be re-accredited by the alliance this year, following Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Senator Bob possessed qualities beyond sheer size and suitable form that appealed to owner Calvin Nguyen and trainer Jim Kasparoff when the gelding showed up in a $25,000 turf claimer at Golden Gate.
“The things we liked most were he was a Cal-bred, and he demonstrated soundness with 20 starts,” Kasparoff said. “I watched some of his races and said, hey, the horse looks okay. He’s got some speed, which you like.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For a jockey who has ridden more than 2,000 winners, Shaun Bridgmohan was in familiar territory Sunday, visiting the Churchill Downs winner’s circle five times. Perhaps the only thing different were the people posing next to him in the win photos.
Of his five winners Sunday, none came in his role as the go-to rider for trainer Steve Asmussen. Rather, his five winners came for four different trainers – two for Steve Margolis, and one each for Michelle Lovell, Brad Cox, and David Carroll.
Brentwood Bullet could start as a slight favorite in the sixth race Thursday at Louisiana Downs. The $40,000 optional claiming race at about a mile on turf will be his first start since March 19, when he ran a close fourth to Baltimore Bob at a similar level at Fair Grounds.
Following that race, Baltimore Bob won the $50,000 Grand Prairie Turf Challenge at Lone Star. Brentwood Bullet, meanwhile, has been working sharply and on Thursday will be seeking his third win over the Louisiana Downs turf course. Richard Eramia has the mount for trainer Morris Nicks.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Although Thursday’s Three Coins Up overnight stakes is scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf at Belmont Park, horseplayers will first have to handicap the weather, as a high probability of rain persisting into midweek could force the $60,000 race to the main track with a distance change to 1 1/8 miles.
Westrock Stables is expanding its reach. The Arkansas-based partnership – which races Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Hamazing Destiny and stakes-winning fillies Tidal Pool and Decelerator – has sent some 2-year-olds to Southern California and New York and recently won with its first-ever starters at Lone Star Park and Louisiana Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sam-Son Farm will be front and center at this year’s Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame gala with the late Tammy Samuel-Balaz, trainer Mark Frostad, and Dancethruthedawn among the inductees.
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall Fame, a dual-breed facility, is located at Woodbine and inductees in five Thoroughbred and five Standardbred categories were announced on Tuesday afternoon at an on-site press conference.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Even by jockey Rajiv Maragh’s own admission, Mucho Macho Man had no real excuse when finishing third, three lengths behind Animal Kingdom, in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.
Getting an unimpeded trip, Mucho Macho Man simply could not match strides with Animal Kingdom in the stretch as Animal Kingdom came to him and went by him in the final three-sixteenths of a mile. Mucho Macho Man did close well on Nehro to lose second by only a neck.
Around the Golden Gate Fields backstretch, the feeling was unanimous: Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s selection to go into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame this summer was well deserved.
Hollendorfer, 64, has won 5,941 races. Among his career highlights are three Kentucky Oaks victories, with Lite Light, Pike Place Dancer, and Blind Luck, who won the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly of 2010. Hollendorfer won his first Breeders’ Cup race last year, when Dakota Phone took the Dirt Mile.
