ELMONT, N.Y. - Charge It, the Florida Derby runner-up who finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby, arrived at trainer Todd Pletcher’s Belmont Park barn Monday morning from Churchill Downs. Charge It underwent a minor throat procedure following the Kentucky Derby, Pletcher said.
“We’re pretty confident he displaced his soft palate, so hopefully we’ve done something to correct that,” Pletcher said. “We have no firm plans at the moment.”
The New York Gaming Commission suspended New York Racing Association clocker Richie Gazer for 30 calendar days and fined him $2,500 for altering a published work of a horse to make the horse eligible to race, according a ruling on the commission website.
Gazer has appealed the penalty and a stay has been granted, meaning Gazer may continue to work until a hearing is held.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The fastest horse in California and another who has emerged as a leader in the handicap division posted key workouts in identical times Monday at Santa Anita.
Grade 1 winner Flightline and Grade 2 winner Stilleto Boy worked separately, five furlongs in 59.40, following the 6:30 a.m. renovation break. Flightline worked alone preparing for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile on June 11 at Belmont Park. Stilleto Boy worked in company for the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on May 30 at Santa Anita.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The 3-year-old males were all the rage here this winter and spring as four horses based at Gulfstream Park ran in the Kentucky Derby (Simplification, Smile Happy, Tiz the Bomb, and White Abarrio) and three (Simplification, Creative Minister, and Skippylongstocking) competed in the Preakness.
But now it’s time for a couple of 3-year-old fillies, stablemates Spirit Wind and Rachel’s Rock, to get a chance to bask in the local spotlight. Both of them reside under the shed of trainer Ralph Nicks.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rusty Arnold had a very hot hand last week at Churchill. From seven starters, Arnold won a Thursday race with Cadillac Candy, then went 3 for 3 Friday with Grand Oak, Late September, and El Kabong. He capped things off Saturday by winning the Louisville Stakes with Cellist, one of his two starters in the Grade 3 turf race.
“It’s nice to have a run like that because it can dry up in a hurry,” said Arnold, who saddled his first winner in 1975.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Letruska, the filly-mare dirt champion of 2021, had her second breeze since she won the April 23 Apple Blossom, going five furlongs in 59.40 seconds Monday at Churchill.
Fausto Gutierrez confirmed the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on the June 11 Belmont Stakes undercard as the next race for Letruska, whose career record now stands at a remarkable 19 for 25. Letruska won the Phipps last year as the 6-5 favorite. Before her latest score in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom, she was an easy winner of the Feb. 26 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park in her 6-year-old debut.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eric Reed, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, began this week with 9,115 starts spread among 44 different tracks in his 37-year training career, but zero at Pimlico. And after watching the 147th Preakness from his old Kentucky home Saturday evening, he has no regrets.
“The way the race turned out, I’m glad we weren’t there,” Reed said Sunday. “You saw what happened to Epicenter, and he has a whole lot more early speed than us.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Diego Herrera, who ranked fifth in the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting through Sunday, will miss six days of racing later this month and in early June for whip violations incurred over the weekend.
Herrera, 18, was cited for using his whip more than the permitted six times on Pequena Tormenta, who finished third in the sixth race on Friday, and Zahra who finished second in the sixth race on Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - After two wins in Grade 3 races this year, Canoodling has earned a start in a Grade 1 race on turf in the $400,000 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on May 30.
The level of competition and distance of the Gamely will be a test for Canoodling, who won the Megahertz Stakes in January and the Wilshire Stakes on May 1 from the front. Those races were at a mile on turf.
“The distance situation is a question,” trainer Mike Puype said Sunday. “She’ll be the speed of the race.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tahoma, the first U.S. starter for 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, recorded a convincing win by two lengths in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Santa Anita on Sunday despite a wide trip.
Sent off favored, Tahoma ($3.80) broke from post 7 in a field of eight and raced four-wide on the turn before taking the lead with a furlong remaining under Juan Hernandez.
“The inside horses were fast,” Hernandez said. “I sat outside and tried to keep up with them. At the quarter-pole, he changed leads and picked it up and passed those horses.
