Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:04

Preakness: Midnight Interlude drills three furlongs

Barbara D. Livingston
Midnight Interlude will be ridden by Martin Garcia in the Preakness.

Midnight Interlude, who finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby after capturing the Santa Anita Derby, tuned up for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico with a three-furlong drill in 35.60 seconds on Monday morning at Churchill Downs.

“He went very nice, with a lot of energy,” said his trainer, Bob Baffert, who was at Churchill Downs for the work. “It was probably his best work over the track since we got here.”

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Mon, 05/16/2011 - 10:36

Paralyzed jockey Michael Martinez seeking entrance to Swiss treatment program

David Seftel, the Golden Gate Fields track physician, is trying to expedite Michael Martinez’s request for permanent residency so the paralyzed jockey can be admitted into a special stem-cell treatment program in Switzerland. Seftel said over the weekend that Martinez has only about two weeks to be admitted into the program for the treatment to be most effective.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 09:52

Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico lures 7 fillies

Michael Burns
Mazarine winner Wyomia may be favored in the Black-Eyed Susan.

Wyomia, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland last month, is among the seven 3-year-old fillies entered to run Friday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, the anchor of the Preakness eve card at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Julien Leparoux is named to ride Wyomia in the 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan, which is to the Preakness what the Kentucky Oaks is to the Kentucky Derby. Trained by Curtis Garrison, Wyomia was beaten a length by Lilacs and Lace in the April 9 Ashland. The daughter of Vindication was assigned post 4.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 09:25

Zenyatta's half-sister starts training

INGLEWOOD. Calif. - It was not going to take much for the 2-year-old filly Eblouissante to reach favorite’s status in trainer John Shirreffs’s barn. Eblouissante is a half-sister to Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year.

By Bernardini and owned by breeder Eric Kronfeld, Eblouissante arrived last Wednesday and began light training on Thursday.

“Everybody’s excited,” Shirreffs said last week.

Zenyatta did not start until November of her 3-year-old season. Considering Eblouissante just arrived, she may not run until 3, either.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 09:19

Hollywood: Bench Points to hit road after Laz Barrera victory

BENOIT PHOTO
Bench Points, returning to a one-turn race, reaffirms his status California's best 3-year-old male sprinter by taking the Laz Barrera.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bench Points is likely to make his next start outside of California after extending his unbeaten streak in one-turn races to five in Sunday’s $100,000 Laz Barrera Stakes.

Trainer Tim Yakteen said he intends to keep Bench Points around one turn and racing within the 3-year-old division. In the short term, that could result in a start in a race such as the $200,000 Carry Back Stakes over six furlongs at Calder on July 9.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 09:12

Hollywood: St Trinians feeling at home for Milady

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – This was supposed to be St Trinians’s year to rise to the top of the older female division in California.

When trainer Mike Mitchell turned her out last summer, citing the need for a break, St Trinians had finished second to Zenyatta in the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park in June. Mitchell cancelled the rest of the 2010 season and began focusing on 2011, knowing that Zenyatta would be retired.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 08:49

Emerald: You Me and Ema B gives trainer first stakes win

AUBURN, Wash. – You Me and Ema B splashed to a front-running victory Sunday in the $50,000 Hastings Handicap at Emerald Downs, affirming her status as a burgeoning star in the local filly and mare division and giving Margo Lloyd her first stakes victory in more than 20 years as a trainer.

“It feels wonderful,” said, Lloyd, 63, who took out her first license in 1985 at Longacres and has trained a small string of horses on and off ever since. “I was a nervous wreck.”

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 08:42

Churchill Downs: Bridgmohan wins five

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan enjoyed a sensational afternoon at Churchill Downs by riding half of the winners on a 10-race Sunday card, including four in a row.

Bridgmohan took the lead atop the standings at the spring meet with his five-win day. His victories started with Cash Refund ($7) in the third race, a $59,800 allowance that served as the feature race of the day. Bridgmohan then reeled off triumphs aboard Dubai’s Connection ($3.20) in the fourth, New Bay ($25.20) in the fifth, Costly ($5.60) in the sixth, and Nowhere to Hide ($6.60) in the eighth.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 08:14

Preakness: Nehro's sharp work tempts owner to send him to Pimlico

Barbara D. Livingston
Nehro, with trainer Steve Asmussen last Wednesday at Churhchill Downs, is likely to be pointed for the Belmont Stakes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With owner Ahmed Zayat watching from the grandstand, Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro breezed a half-mile in 50.80 seconds over a sloppy Churchill Downs racetrack early Monday morning, leaving Zayat trying to decide whether to send the colt to the $1 million Preakness.

Sun, 05/15/2011 - 18:20

Belmont: Drosselmeyer outbattles stablemate to earn first win since 2010 Belmont Stakes

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Drosselmeyer, racing on the rail under Jose Lezcano, holds off stablemate Birdrun by a neck in the One Count.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Drosselmeyer became the first Belmont Stakes winner in more than a decade to win a race in his 4-year-old season, gutting out a neck victory over stablemate Birdrun in Sunday’s $60,000 One Count Stakes at Belmont Park.