HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Alternation on Monday was committed to the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby – making for a prospective field of 13 – while a little later the same morning probables Brethren, Dance City and Truman’s Commander arrived in town from Florida.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Beaten as a short-priced favorite in her last two starts, Cody Samora will try to win back her loyal followers against six fellow New York-bred fillies and mares in Wednesday’s $60,000 Chase the Dream Stakes at Aqueduct.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Payton d’Oro, Distinctive Dixie, and Taptam each hooked loose-on-the-lead winners in their last starts but could see different trips Wednesday in the $100,000 Redbud at Oaklawn Park.
The 1 1/16-mile stakes for fillies and mares continues the Racing Festival of the South, where nine stakes worth $2.7 million are being run over the final six dates of the meet that ends Saturday.
LEXINGTON, kY. - Lilacs and Lace, who stunned an ontrack Saturday crowd of 23,155 at Keeneland with her wire-to-wire triumph at 48-1 in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes, will proceed to the May 6 Kentucky Oaks, assuming all goes well, said trainer John Terranova.
“She’ll stay here at Keeneland a little while,” said Terranova. “I’m running some other horses Derby week at Churchill, so I’ll probably send her over about a week before the Oaks.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Todd Pletcher won the Blue Grass Stakes in 2005 with Bandini and in 2008 with Momba, but it’s only coincidence that he will try to sustain that every-three-years pattern and shoot for his third Blue Grass victory by running three horses Saturday in the Keeneland showcase.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Dianne Cotter and her husband Julian were watching a recording of Saturday’s Wood Memorial early Monday afternoon at their home near Gainesville, Fla. Over and over again.
“The only thing they’re talking about is Uncle Mo and how inferior everybody else is,” said Diane Cotter, who interrupted her repeated viewing of the race to take a phone call. “Which makes it all the better.”
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The ninth edition of Florida Day at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday turned out to be a record-setting afternoon as two track records were shattered on the main track. The day spotlighted the Florida breeding industry, with six $75,000 stakes for Florida-breds.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Awesome Act entered the 2010 Kentucky Derby as something of a wise-guy horse, an 11-1 shot with sneaky-good form. A lot of good that did him. Beaten more than 60 lengths, Awesome Act exited the Derby with a staph infection that put him on the sidelines for several months.
Duly regrouped by his new trainer, Steve Asmussen, Awesome Act will make his return to the races Wednesday at Keeneland as part of an oversubscribed field in a $58,000, second-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Jaycito, scratched from the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday because of a sore foot, returned to the track to train at Santa Anita on Monday morning and is on course to make the Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 23, trainer Bob Baffert said Monday.
Baffert is at Keeneland for the 2-year-olds in training sale, but said reports from assistant Jim Barnes at Santa Anita were that Jaycito "looked good."
"We got the soreness out of the foot," Baffert said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A ground-saving trip by jockey Joe Talamo on Surrey Star was the difference between a win and a loss to stablemate Major Art in Sunday’s $100,000 La Puente Stakes at Santa Anita.
Talamo had Surrey Star on the rail on the backstretch and stayed inside on the turn, while jockey Victor Espinoza guided Major Art three wide on the final turn. The margin between the two at the finish was only a half-length.
Major Art, the 2-1 favorite, finished 1 1/2 lengths clear of pacesetter Jakesam.
