Kerri Raven likes doing things her own way. So, too, does her stable star Chess Master, who gave the 49-year-old Ontario native her first stakes victory in a 10-year training career when speeding to a 2 1/2-length victory Saturday in the $91,250 Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs.
“I was so elated when he won that I felt like a little kid,” Raven said Monday from the Oldsmar, Fla., track. “I’m just so proud of him.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Lacking so much as an allowance race, a nine-race Thursday card will have the Rainbow 6 (races 4-9) and a gross pool guarantee of at least $1.25 million as a primary attraction for horseplayers. A forceout of the Rainbow 6 is tentatively planned for Saturday.
Although turf racing was forced Sunday to the Tapeta because of weekend rain, much drier conditions are in the South Florida forecast for the coming week, so both Thursday turf races (4 and 9) can be expected to go as scheduled.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s not very often a trainer wins a 20-way shake less than a year after he or she has won a 21-way shake.
Then again, it’s not very often a horse will win nine races in a row when it is entered for a claiming tag.
Cavalry Charge, if all goes well, will try to validate his 35-1 upset of the Grade 3, $150,000 Fair Grounds Stakes in the $300,000 Muniz Memorial on March 26.
Cavalry Charge led all the way Saturday on a slow pace under Brian Hernandez to post his first stakes win in his second try.
“He’s got the makings of a top turf horse,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.
Epicenter could face much different rivals in the Louisiana Derby on March 26 than those he easily defeated Saturday in the Risen Star Stakes.
Epicenter, under Joel Rosario, coasted to a front-running 2 3/4-length win in the Risen Star, getting 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:49.03, which produced a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure. Epicenter on Sunday looked well, trainer Steve Asmussen said, and would walk the next two days before resuming racecourse training toward the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 26.
ARCADIA, Calif. - From an allowance race winner on Friday to a two-time graded stakes winner in recent months, a diverse field is forming for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on March 5.
Express Train, the winner of the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Dec. 26 and the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Feb. 5, is the leading local contender. Soy Tapatio, who won his debut against winners in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on Friday, may join the field, trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Last year, Rock Your World won his stakes debut in the Pasadena Stakes on turf at Santa Anita and followed with an impressive victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on dirt in April.
Sumter will have a different springtime schedule after winning his stakes debut in Saturday’s $103,000 Pasadena Stakes.
“Did you see his first race?” trainer Richard Mandella asked Sunday morning. “He got beat 35 lengths.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 20-cent Rainbow pick six has a mandatory payout on Sunday at Santa Anita, and will begin with a carryover of $664,316 from Saturday.
The Rainbow pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific. The pick six races include four turf races and two on dirt.
Track officials projected earlier this week that the pool will reach $5 million.
Extravagant Kid, who won the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai last March, has been retired.
Owned by David Ross of Great Falls, Va., and trained by Brendan Walsh, Extravagant Kid, 9, won 15 of 56 starts and earned $1,704,683 in a career that spanned from 2015 to earlier this month. Extravagant Kid finished sixth as the 6-5 favorite in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 2 in his final race.
Ross claimed Extravagant Kid for $75,000 in January 2018. The gelding later earned $1,268,694.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Barber Road has put trainer John A. Ortiz on a path to the Kentucky Derby, which has been a goal for the horseman since he opened his public racing stable in 2016.
Barber Road has run second in the first two Kentucky Derby points races at the Oaklawn Park meet and next Saturday is set to start as one of the top contenders in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn.
