LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Whatever apprehension owner Barry Irwin and trainer Graham Motion had about running Animal Kingdom in next Saturday’s Kentucky Derby was alleviated Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, when Animal Kingdom, who heretofore has raced exclusively on grass and Polytrack, worked sharply over the dirt.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sunland Derby winner Twice the Appeal was the only potential Kentucky Derby starter to work before the renovation break at Churchill Downs on Saturday, breezing six furlongs in 1:15.62 seconds under jockey Calvin Borel.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Despite a season impacted by near-constant rain, Keeneland posted strong attendance and handle figures for the meeting that ended Friday, the track announced.
Ontrack attendance for the 15-day meet was 241,684, the third-best for a spring meeting and an increase from last year's 238,282.
Handle was strong. Ontrack, it totaled $18,473,700, an average of $1,231,580 per day, and an increase of 3 percent from last year's $17,906,359.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The old-timer Musketier successfully defended his title in the Elkhorn Stakes on Friday's closing-day card at Keeneland by rallying from sixth in the final quarter-mile to take the Grade 2, $150,000 grass stakes for the second straight year.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – John Dooley, the track announcer at Fair Grounds and Arlington Park, recently had surgery to repair a detached retina, but will be ready to assume his race-calling duties when Arlington opens on May 6.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There were three Oaks fillies out for five-furlong works at Churchill Downs Friday morning – er, make that one.
After going in 59.40 seconds, Arienza, the distant runner-up to Joyful Victory in the Fantasy, will opt out of the Oaks in favor of the shorter Eight Belles on the Derby undercard, said trainer Dan Peitz.
Also, Delightful Mary was ruled out by trainer Mark Casse after going in 1:01.60.
The oft-injured Winslow Homer, whose career has been punctuated by promising efforts and then lengthy absences, is on the sidelines again and will miss next week’s Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs, trainer Larry Jones said Friday morning.
“We sent him over to Rood and Riddle in Lexington, and their theory was that we should back off because of his suspensories,” Jones said. “So we’re going to pass the Alysheba.”
Jones took over as Winslow Homer’s trainer this year and raced him at Oaklawn Park earlier this year. Winslow Homer previously had been trained by Tony Dutrow.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Juan Arias has heard the jokes before, and he’s got a witty reply. Told he looks damn good for a guy who won the Kentucky Derby 40 years ago with Canonero II, Arias said, “I spent all my Canonero money on surgeries.”
Arias is 45. The only connection he has to Canonero is that both were young in 1971. Canonero was 3, Arias 5. But Arias, a former jockey who is from Panama, has the same name as the Venezuelan trainer who engineered Canonero’s improbable Derby victory.
ELMONT, N.Y. - In her return off a five-month layoff, Chorus Music picked up where she left off, roaring to a 5 1/2-length victory in Friday’s $60,000 Irish Linnet Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares.
Chorus Music, a 6-year-old daughter of Strategic Mission, was making her first start since Nov. 21 at Aqueduct, where she won a starter allowance by 1 3/4 lengths.
Under Alex Solis, Chorus Music settled into midpack while Exclusive Scheme set leisurely fractions of 25.58 seconds, 50.12, and 1:14.21 while being hassled by a rank In Te Domine.
