LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Kentucky Derby and Oaks aren’t the only sensational betting races shaping up for next weekend at Churchill Downs. The Grade 1, $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic is expected to get its 14-horse limit, and with top horses coming from all over the map, it looks like it will be easily the most important middle-distance grass race in North America so far this year.
Trainer John Sadler will be at Churchill Downs on Friday to saddle Zazu in the Kentucky Oaks. He has two good reasons to hurry back to Hollywood Park for Saturday’s card, and not stick around Churchill Downs for the Derby.
Sadler intends to start Sidney’s Candy in next Saturday’s $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap over 1 1/16 miles and Cost of Freedom in the $70,000 Cool Frenchy Stakes over five furlongs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In addition to 4,500 video-lottery terminals, the casino at Aqueduct also will house a limited number of electronic table game machines when it opens later this summer, with the hopes that regular table games will be able to be offered sometime in the future.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Neither of the two overnight stakes for New York-breds drew sufficient entries to be carded for Sunday, thus the feature at Belmont Park is a first-level allowance sprint for 3-year-olds and up that drew an intriguing group of six.
The regally bred Safety Check and the European shipper Fastest Magician – both returning from long layoffs – are likely to draw the most interest from bettors in the 6 1/2-furlong dash that will go as race 4 on a 10-race card.
The spotlight in the 2011 2000 Guineas 1s firmly fixed on the standout colt Frankel, but there is no real point of focus at all when it comes to Sunday’s 1000 Guineas, the 3-year-old filly counterpart to Saturday’s race for boys. A field of 19 is expected for the 1000 Guineas, which will be contested at one mile over a straight course at Newmarket, and English bookmakers have seven horses clustered at odds between 9-2 and 12-1.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Midwest Thoroughbreds and trainer Cody Autrey claimed about 30 horses during the Fair Grounds meet, and on Sunday one of those acquisitions looks like a solid choice in the featured fifth race at Lone Star Park.
Cat Bells will be returning to the Texas-bred ranks for the first time since 2009 in a first-level allowance for fillies and mares at a mile. It will be her first start for Midwest and Autrey after being claimed for $17,500 on March 20.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Nine months after being sidelined by facial injuries sustained in a freak pre-race accident at Del Mar, jockey Tyler Baze rode the 1,775th winner of his award-winning career in Thursday’s sixth race at Hollywood Park.
Guiding Joyful Success to an easy 3 1/4-victory in a $16,000 claimer for sprinters, Baze celebrated with a few right-handed fist pumps. A few minutes later, after leaving the winner’s circle, Baze summed up his thoughts surrounding his comeback.
“Mission accomplished,” Baze said. “I got it done. Now there is no monkey on my back.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When trainer Kiaran McLaughlin puts Soldat on the plane that will take his Kentucky Derby prospect to Louisville on Saturday, he will do so with the confidence that his horse couldn’t be doing any better coming into the biggest race of his young career.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – When the filly Separate Forest dropped into a claiming race for the first time Jan. 14, trainer Doug O’Neill believed that despite her declining form, the potential reward outweighed the risk.
“We thought she was a filly that was definitely worth what she was in for,” O’Neill said, referring to the $25,000 tag. “And if we got lucky at all, we thought she might be worth a little bit more.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – In her third and final start as a 2-year-old, Overvalued finished third as the heavy favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy Stakes. Despite the loss, it was an impressive performance for the Tracy McCarthy-trained Overvalued. She dueled through extremely fast early fractions and just when you thought she would start backing out of the race, Overvalued opened up on the field going around the stretch turn. Not surprisingly, she couldn’t keep up the pace and tired in the stretch.
