Kathmanblu, the winner of last month's Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds and the presumptive favorite for the Grade 2, $500,000 Fair Grounds Oaks this Saturday at Fair Grounds, will skip the race to await next month's Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, trainer Ken McPeek said Monday morning.
"We decided to go in the Ashland. She needs to win a Grade 1," McPeek said. "There's so many opportunities between Fair Grounds, Gulfstream, and Keeneland. We could only run in one of them.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Mildly Offensive had little difficulty extending her unbeaten streak to two races in Sunday’s $100,000 Santa Paula Stakes at Santa Anita.
In doing so, she ran to her odds as the 1-2 favorite, gave jockey Rafael Bejarano a sweep of the day’s two stakes, and further enhanced her status as a 3-year-old filly to follow.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- Chief of Affairs established himself as one of the top choices for next month’s Grade 3, $200,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park when he won the $75,000 Hot Springs on Sunday in a meet-best time of 1:08.56 for six furlongs.
The time also equaled the stakes record of Double Ready in 1984.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - La Luna de Miel has a German sire, an English dam, and a Russian owner.On Sunday, she became an American graded stakes winner for the first time when she rallied under a perfect ride by jockey John Velazquez to a one-length victory over 6-5 favorite Endless Expanse in Gulfstream Park’s $150,000 Orchid Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Bound for the winner’s circle after Juniper Pass’s hard-fought victory in Sunday’s $150,000 San Luis Rey Stakes, owner Robert Irvin was understandably full of enthusiasm.
“I think I’m going to hug Rafael,” he said of winning jockey Rafael Bejarano.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The California Horse Racing Board has filed a complaint against trainer Doug O’Neill after one of his starters at Santa Anita in February tested positive for etodolac, an anti-inflammatory medication not permitted for use in racehorses.
The positive test was taken from a post-race urine sample from Separate Forest, the winner of the fifth race at Santa Anita on Feb. 5. Separate Forest earned $22,800 of a $40,400 purse in winning a $40,000 claimer on the hillside turf course as the 8-5 favorite.
The entrants came out of the woodwork Sunday when the field was drawn and post positions assigned for the $1 million Louisiana Derby. A field of 13 – most wholly unproven in open stakes competition – was entered in the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile race, the centerpiece of what ought to be a blockbuster, multi-graded-stakes racing program Saturday in New Orleans.
Baryshnikov and Dean’s Kitten gave Mike Maker, the leading trainer at the Turfway Park winter-spring meet, a one-two sweep of the $50,000 Tejano Run Stakes on Saturday night.
With Tommy Pompell aboard, Baryshnikov notched his first career stakes victory when making or forcing all the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race, returning $19 as sixth choice in a field of eight older horses. Dean’s Kitten, winner of the Lane’s End Stakes last year, was second, 1 3/4 lengths behind his stablemate and another half-length before Mint Chip.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The Factor put himself on the road to the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, when he answered the two-turn question with authority in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile was his first start beyond seven furlongs, and he settled beautifully before winning off by 6 1/4 lengths.
"He could have gone a mile and an eighth today," said Bob Baffert, who trains The Factor.
