HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – To Honor and Serve drew post position 7 and tops a field of eight 3-year-olds and Kentucky Derby hopefuls who will contest Saturday’s $400,000 Fountain of Youth.
The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth is one of three graded stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday’s program, along with the Grade 2 Hutcheson and Grade 2 Davona Dale for fillies.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
The retirement of the 2011 stakes winner Reba Is Tops has been postponed.
Trainer Mark Glatt said Monday that Reba Is Tops is a candidate for the $75,000 Clocker’s Corner Handicap over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course March 5. The Clocker’s Corner will be run five weeks after Reba Is Tops won what was presumed to be her last start in the Wishing Well Handicap on Jan. 29.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Friday’s $47,000 feature was scheduled for last Saturday’s Aqueduct card that was halted after three wind-blown races. Though it was brought back at the same distance of a mile and 70 yards and carries the same second-level allowance conditions and optional $50,000 claim price, there are notable differences between the first and second versions.
First and foremost is the addition of Marilyn’s Guy, who immediately took over the role of morning-line favorite on the strength of a game win under these same conditions last out.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Southwest Stakes was not the only race at Oaklawn Park on Monday to produce starters for next month’s Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel. Alternation emerged as a candidate for the race following an allowance win on the undercard. He closed from next to last going 1 1/16 miles, and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 83.
“He overcame a bad break, showed some class down the lane,” said Donnie Von Hemel, who trains Alternation for Pin Oak Stable. “He looks like a horse with a future.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 stakes winners Sidney’s Candy and The Usual Q.T. will miss expected starts in the $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita on March 5 because of minor injuries, their trainers said.
Sidney’s Candy is suffering from a quarter crack in his right front foot, trainer John Sadler said Wednesday. The Grade 1 Kilroe Mile was scheduled to be Sidney’s Candy’s first start since an easy win in the Grade 3 Sir Beaufort Stakes on Dec. 26.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Golden Yank will be gearing up for a return to the handicap ranks when he runs Friday in a third-level optional $65,000 claimer at Oaklawn Park. The one-mile race will be his first start since finishing third in the Grade 2 Cornhusker, and his trainer, Gary Thomas, hopes it will be his springboard to next month’s Razorback Handicap.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – Less than two months into 2011, there is already a clear leader in the Quarter Horse older male division.
Good Reason Sa won the $214,550 Los Alamitos Winter Championship on a wet-fast track last Saturday, earning an automatic berth in the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 10. The Champion of Champions plays a major role in year-end voting, and the berth that Good Reason Sa earned is as much a relief as an accomplishment.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gilded Gem ran well enough in three consecutive sprints from late November to late January following a seven-month layoff that trainer Bob Baffert had bigger goals.
After Gilded Gem was second in the Grade 1 Santa Monica Sakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 30, Baffert contemplated a shift to two-turn races – until jockey Rafael Bejarano urged otherwise.
“I was thinking of running her long, but Bejarano said not to,” Baffert said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Officials from Gulfstream Park responded Wednesday to the escalating dispute with Calder Racecourse by amending their racing dates request – applying to open on Nov. 26, one week earlier than originally proposed – and creating extra stalls for horses who ship to race from Calder.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – The spring migration of horsemen to central Nebraska is under way, signalling the return of live racing to the state, as Fonner Park opens for a 31-day stand on Friday that runs through Kentucky Derby Day on May 7.
Following the meet here, racing will move to Lincoln Race Course for a 32-day meet that runs May 13 to July 17. Horsemen’s Park in Omaha will then offer a four-day festival of racing July 21-24 before the season winds down with a 23-day session at Columbus from July 29 to Sept. 11.
