At least five candidates are being readied for the $200,000 Derby Trial, which opens the spring meet at Churchill on Saturday with a program that starts at 6 p.m. Eastern. Those 3-year-olds likely for the one-mile Trial include Dominus, J J’s Lucky Train, Machen, Ruler On Ice, and Travelin Man. The Trial, worth $124,000 to the winner, will be run at 9:39 p.m.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The record-setting 2011 Gulfstream Park meet comes to an end on Sunday with a 12-race card that includes six races worth $400,000 for Florida-breds. Racing on the south Florida circuit switches across town to Calder on Monday.
The 2011 meeting set new standards at Gulfstream for ontrack handle, total handle, and total purse distribution. The total handle of more than $32 million on Florida Derby weekend was also a record while the average starters per race of 9.8 was the highest in track history.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Sunday’s eighth race at Hollywood Park, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance for 3-year-old fillies, is not an ideal distance for Big Tiz, who is unraced since finishing second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet last December.
What may work in her favor, and set up a late kick, is the presence of several other fillies in the field of nine capable of setting a strong pace.
“There is plenty of early speed and that’s good,” said Mark Glatt, who trains Big Tiz. “That makes a difference for my filly.”
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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Everyday training seems to bore the multiple stakes winner Jeranimo, trainer Mike Pender says.
The 5-year-old seems more interested in racing, which is why Pender has no hesitation in starting Jeranimo in Sunday’s $100,000 Inglewood Handicap at Hollywood Park, 15 days after a third-place finish behind Liberian Freighter in the Grade 2 Arcadia Mile at Santa Anita.
AUBURN, Wash. – Assessment, now 20 months removed from an improbable victory in the 2009 Longacres Mile, headlines Sunday’s feature race at Emerald Downs, a $21,000 allowance for older horses at six furlongs.
Making his first start following a six-month layoff, Assessment is slated to meet six rivals. They include leading contenders Winning Machine, winner of both the Emerald and B.C. derbies in 2009; Our Minesweeper, a stakes winner at Golden Gate last fall; and Boundtogetbusy, a lightly raced 4-year-old with brilliant speed.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Craig MacPherson is glad to be back at Hastings after spending the winter at Turf Paradise, where he won four races from 32 starts. It isn’t the weather that has him excited to be back. A couple of 3-year-olds that could make a big impact at Hastings has MacPherson looking forward to the 2011 meet.
Even though he has won the Kentucky Derby three times in the last four years, jockey Calvin Borel, as of Friday, still did not have a confirmed mount for this year's race on May 7, according to his agent, Jerry Hissam.
"If I had one, I'd jump for joy," Hissam said.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
Uncle Mo galloped 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs on Friday morning and will have a workout on Tuesday, trainer Todd Pletcher said Friday.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
No decision has yet been made on whether J P's Gusto will run in the May 7 Kentucky Derby, Steve Bajer, who works as a bloodstock adviser to owner Dr. John Waken, said Friday.
Bajer said J P's Gusto was sent to Kentucky following last week's Arkansas Derby, in which he finished eighth in the 13-horse field. In his prior start, J P's Gusto finished seventh in the Rebel Stakes.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The connections of Woombroom Express made a prudent move by scratching the speedy 6-year-old gelding out of the $50,000 George Royal Stakes on Friday to run in a first-level optional $35,000 claiming race that will serve as the Hastings feature Sunday. The six-furlong sprint drew seven horses and goes as the sixth race on the seven-race card.
