INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Ultra Blend won her fourth stakes in her last five starts with a perfect trip in Saturday's $125,000 B. Thoughtful Stakes for statebred fillies and mares.
Ridden by Joel Rosario, Ultra Blend was sixth in the field of seven on the backstretch, moved into contention with a wide rally on the turn and ran down pacesetter Lady Railrider to win by a length. Ultra Blend ($3.60) ran 7 1/2 furlongs in 1:30.40.
A scheduled six-furlong workout for Kentucky Derby hopeful Animal Kingdom didn't exactly work out the way trainer Graham Motion planned at Keeneland on Saturday.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
Trainer David Fawkes won a career-best seven stakes races during 2010, but barring misfortune, that mark won’t last long. Already in 2011, Fawkes has sent out four stakes winners – three in graded competition – and Fawkes has an excellent chance of adding to that total on Tuesday, when Little Drama starts as the favorite in the $75,000 Philmont Stakes at Parx Racing.
MIAMI – Calder Race Course will celebrate its 40th anniversary when kicking off its 2011 meeting on Monday.
As usual, Calder will split its season between two meets. The 101-day Calder session will run through Sept. 30 and be followed by the 45-day Tropical meet ,which begins Oct. 1 and continues until Dec. 2. Post time will be 12:30 p.m. daily.
Calder will close one month earlier than usual this season to avoid a head-to-head conflict with nearby Gulfstream Park, which opens its 2011-2012 meet on Dec. 3.
Jonathan Sheppard is best known for his prowess as a trainer of turf runners and jumpers. But based on a small sampling so far this season, he also does a pretty good job of picking out spots to ship horses from his farm in southeastern Pennsylvania to Penn National Race Course near Hershey, Pa.
Blind Luck, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, worked six furlongs in 1:13.20 at Hollywood Park on Friday, and is one of three stakes runners that trainer Jerry Hollendorfer plans to start at Churchill Downs in coming weeks.
Blind Luck will run in the $300,000 La Troienne Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on May 6, the Kentucky Oaks program. Blind Luck is winless in three starts this year, all second-place finishes in graded stakes at Santa Anita and Oaklawn Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Florida Derby runner-up Shackleford led a small cast of prominent Kentucky Derby and Oaks hopefuls breezing at Churchill Downs Saturday, working five furlongs in 1:00.20 over a sloppy racetrack hammered by overnight and morning rain.
Working by himself with Tammy Fox up, Shackleford skipped over the wet surface, going in steady splits of 12 seconds, 23.80, 35.60, and 47.80, before galloping out in 1:14. His work was among the best of the morning.
Jockey Victor Espinoza has switched agents, ending on Thursday an association with Tony Matos that lasted more than a decade. Brad Pegram will represent Espinoza, 38.
Earlier this month, Matos traveled to Keeneland with Garrett Gomez, whom he began representing last month. While in Keeneland, Matos continued to book mounts for Espinoza at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park.
“I think it’s time to make a change,” Espinoza said on Thursday. “I need an agent full-time and he was at Keeneland.”
