Trainer Rudy Rodriguez will serve a seven-day suspension beginning with the April 29 opening of the Belmont Park meet after one of his horses tested positive for an overage of flunixin, a nonsteroidal inflammatory that is not permitted for use on raceday.
The suspension was reduced from 15 days after Rodriguez waived his right of appeal. Rodriguez also was fined $1,000, according to the stewards.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Paco Lopez has been handed a 10-day suspension by the stewards for his ride aboard Exclusive Strike who was disqualified from first and placed last for causing interference that led to jockey Luis Saez falling from his mount, He’s Alright, in Thursday’s ninth race.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Uncle Mo may have lost his status as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby, but his stablemate, R Heat Lightning, continues to look every bit the horse to beat in the Kentucky Oaks.
Saturday, in her first workout since romping to an 8 1/4-length victory in the Gulfstream Oaks on April 2, R Heat Lighting drilled four furlongs in 47.20 seconds over the Belmont Park training track. It was the fastest of 94 works at the distance.
Indiana Downs begins its eighth season Monday and although its parent company, Oliver Racing LLC, filed for bankruptcy last month, everything will remain pretty much the same as in 2010.
Daily purse distribution at the Shelbyville, Ind., track will remain approximately $200,000 a day. Maiden special weight events will continue to be worth $35,000, with open allowance purses in the $45,000 range. There was plenty of interest from horsemen wanting to stable at the track.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The last week has been the best of trainer Jim Cassidy’s year at Santa Anita, with Surrey Star winning the La Puente Stakes on April 10 and Fifth Ave pulling an upset in her American debut in Friday’s seventh race.
Cassidy is banking on that success continuing in coming weeks as the stable has runners in major stakes at Churchill Downs on May 6, Kentucky Oaks Day.
Sunland Park Derby alum It’s My Party will be making a significant turnback in distance Tuesday when he goes from 1 1/8 miles to six furlongs for the $50,000 KHEY Sprint. The race for 3-year-olds closes out the Sunland meet, along with the $50,000 Getaway at 870 yards for Quarter Horses.
HALLANDALE BEACH,Fla. - Risen Star winner and Kentucky Derby hopeful Mucho Macho Man zipped seven furlongs in 1:23.66 on Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park in his final work before his scheduled departure for Churchill Downs on Sunday.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Havre de Grace overcame a modest pace to run down a determined Switch and become both a Grade 1 winner and millionaire Friday in the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.
Havre de Grace won by three-quarters of a length, while Switch was a clear second, finishing a length and a quarter in front of Absinthe Minded. The Apple Blossom continued the Racing Festival of the South, when Oaklawn groups a number of major stakes together over the final week of its meet. The season will wrap up on Saturday with the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Get Stormy and Workin for Hops were one-two under the wire the first time around Friday in the Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland - and the second.
With six others in futile pursuit, Get Stormy shook off Workin for Hops turning for home and sped clear to prevail by 2 3/4 lengths for his seventh stakes victory - but first in a Grade 1 - in the 23rd running of the Grade 1, $300,000 turf race.
Rodman, who returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since December 2009 on Thursday with a 3 1/2-length score in the Irish Tower Stakes at Aqueduct, could be pointed to the Grade 1, $500,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on May 30, trainer Mike Hushion said Friday.
Rodman, a 6-year-old son of Malibu Moon, went gate to wire under Ramon Dominguez running fractions of 24.19 seconds, 47.39, and 1:10.79 for six furlongs before completing the mile in 1:34.71 while under a hand ride. He earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
