ELMONT, N.Y. – Already flush with three Grade 1-winning 3-year-olds, trainer Chad Brown will look to see what he has with impressive maiden winner Nabokov when he faces winners for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile.
Nabokov, a son of Uncle Mo who sold for $775,000 as a yearling, finished second at Keeneland going 6 1/2 furlongs in April in his debut. He came back in May to win a 1 1/16-mile race by 3 1/4 lengths here on May 15.
ELMONT, N.Y. - He began 2022 drubbing 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. The connections of Life Is Good hope their 4-year-old ends 2022 vying for his own Horse of the Year title at the Breeders’ Cup in November at Keeneland.
Which Breeders’ Cup race Life Is Good ultimately ends up in will be determined in the coming months, though the $6 million Classic at 1 1/4 miles is the desired goal.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs officials announced Tuesday that the four turf stakes scheduled for closing weekend will not be run as had been hoped, citing continuing problems with its new $10 million turf course.
Training over the Bermuda-hybrid course was permitted Tuesday morning for the first time in nearly three weeks – including four official workouts timed by the Churchill clockers – but afterward, it was decided not to hold racing over a course that has been problematic since it was first used April 30, opening night of the spring meet.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Charge It, the Florida Derby runner-up who finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby, heads what is expected to be a small field of 3-year-olds for Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile at Belmont Park.
Charge It, trained by Todd Pletcher, won a one-turn mile maiden race by 8 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park in February before jumping right into the Florida Derby field where he finished second to White Abarrio.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 John Nerud Stakes got a little more interesting Monday when trainer Bill Mott confirmed that Speaker’s Corner, third to Flightline in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 11, will run in the seven-furlong race.
That sets up a meeting with Life Is Good, the multiple Grade 1 winner who is scheduled to make his first start since his fourth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup on March 27.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Forbidden Kingdom, a two-time Grade 2 winner earlier this year against 3-year-olds, has been sidelined by a recent bout with colic.
Trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday that Forbidden Kingdom recovered quickly, but has been sent to a Southern California lay-up facility for a three-week rest. The brief illness put an end to any plans for a summertime start.
“He got right over it,” Mandella said. “He can run at Santa Anita” in the autumn.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Surprise Hollywood Gold Cup winner There Goes Harvard may have two starts at the Del Mar summer meeting.
On Sunday, trainer Michael McCarthy said the main goal for the upcoming meeting is the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 3. McCarthy said the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on July 30 could serve as a prep race.
“I’ve got to figure out how to get to the Pacific Classic and that’s part of it,” McCarthy said of the $300,000 San Diego Handicap.
Dr. Schivel, a two-time Grade 1 winner who was third in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint in Dubai in March, is unlikely to race until autumn.
Trainer Mark Glatt said on Sunday that Dr. Schivel “is not quite back to his old self” following the trip overseas.
“We’re not going to push the issue until he tells us he’s ready,” Glatt said. “It looks more like the fall.
“We know when he’s 100 percent, and he’s not.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A somewhat conspicuous absence from the Grade 3 Chicago won Saturday by Lady Rocket at Churchill was Lovemesomeme, a 6 1/2-length allowance winner earlier in the meet.
“The Chicago was almost like a Grade 1,” said Billy Denzik, the former trainer who co-owns Lovemesomeme. “It would’ve been a huge jump, lightly raced as our filly is. If she keeps making progress, though, I’d guess we’ll be facing those good ones soon enough.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Racing secretary Ben Huffman said early this week that the suspension of turf racing at Churchill “has actually allowed the course to begin to thrive” and that the four turf stakes scheduled for the coming weekend will be held as scheduled. Besides the three Saturday turf stakes, the Anchorage will be run Sunday. They will be the only turf races through meet’s end.
Horses were to work or gallop over the course Tuesday morning as a test for the weekend, Huffman said.
