LEXINGTON, Ky. – A filly whose only career defeat came when she was second in a Breeders’ Cup event would have to be the favorite in pretty much any race she competes in next, right?
Well, yes. But when Winter Memories returns to action Thursday in the Grade 3 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland, she won’t be as overwhelming a choice as you might have thought.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Tom Albertrani was back in balmy south Florida at the Palm Meadows training center on Tuesday morning, still thawing out from his trip to Kentucky and still revelling in Brilliant Speed’s narrowest of victories in the Blue Grass Stakes.
This will be a busy week for trainers Jeff Bonde and Steve Specht.
Bonde, at least, was able to catch his breath early this week in his hometown of Pleasanton, but he has stakes runners at both Golden Gate Fields and Hollywood Park as well as Keeneland.
“I’m here till Friday,” Bonde said Monday from his Pleasanton stable after a long trip home from Oaklawn Park, where Smiling Tiger and Road Ready scored stakes victories last week and Sway Away ran fourth after taking the lead in the stretch of the Arkansas Derby.
Portland Meadows showed a decrease of more than 14 percent in all-sources average daily handle from last year for the 2010-11 race meeting, a drop caused in part from the closing of the nation’s largest bet-taker, New York City Off-Track Betting, during the meet. the Portland Meadows meeting began Oct. 4, 2010 and ended April 6.
The all-sources handle for the track’s 64th season of live racing averaged $673,215. as compared with $784,506 last year, according to a release from Portland Meadows, which is owned by MI Developments.
The Rainbow Pick 6 at Gulfstream Park will have a carryover in excess of $1.3 million when racing resumes on Thursday. If nobody hits the jackpot on Thursday or Friday, the entire pool will be dispersed on Saturday’s penultimate card of the 2011 meet.
The Rainbow Pick 6 has a 10-cent minimum. The pool is only paid out in full if there is a single winning ticket. With interest in the wager expected to be high, the pool for the bet, if not hit Thursday or Friday, could be as high as $5 million by the beginning of the sequence Saturday.
When Nicole H won Saturday’s Grade 2 Distaff Handicap, it was trainer Mike Hushion’s third stakes win in one week at Aqueduct. It was also his eighth stakes win of the year, one shy of his personal best nine set last year.
Though down to 27 horses, Hushion certainly has improved the quality of his stable.
“A few years ago I stopped claiming horses,’’ Hushion said. “I told most of my people I’ve had enough of that.’’
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Albertrani and owner Charlotte Weber earned their way to the Kentucky Derby when Brilliant Speed won last Saturday’s Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland by a nose. This Saturday, Albertrani and Weber will send out another 3-year-old that could wind up representing them in one of the other Triple Crown races.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Trainer Charlie Lawson posted win No. 1,000 of his career on Monday at Beulah Park, winning the fifth race with Wink A Richie ($3.40).
A retired builder and developer, Lawson is best known for extending the careers of older class horses. Lawson trains at his farm in Morrow, Ohio, and ships his horses in the day of the race.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Shy of earnings to make the Kentucky Derby field as things stand now, Silver Medallion had his first breeze since returning to Churchill Downs when going an easy half-mile Monday morning in 51.40 seconds, a move that might well have moved trainer Steve Asmussen closer to running the colt Saturday in the Grade 3 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland.
“We still have a decision to make,” Asmussen said. “But I did think he moved beautifully over this track this morning.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It may be wise for handicappers to wait as late as possible before seriously handicapping Wednesday’s featured eighth race at Aqueduct, because the complexion of the six-furlong race is likely to change at scratch time.
As drawn, the optional claiming race has seven entrants – six of whom are in for the $50,000 claiming tag – and appears to have plenty of speed. But with three trainers having multiple entrants, the race could lose some of its significant pace players.
