Trainer Richard Baltas, who operates one of the leading stables in Southern California, faces an uncertain short-term future after a horse in his care was euthanized after suffering an injury last weekend at Santa Anita and another horse was a late scratch after being administered a substance not allowed within 24 hours of a race, according to people familiar with the matter.
Baltas did not return a phone call or a text message on Thursday.
Rich Strike pulled off an 80-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, and on Thursday his connections came with another shocker, taking the colt out of consideration for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on May 21 at Pimlico. He will instead await the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, on June 11 in New York.
Both Rick Dawson, who owns Rich Strike, and Eric Reed, the colt’s trainer, said they believed running back in two weeks was not in the best interests of Rich Strike. They said giving him five weeks between starts was more suitable.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The 2022 Hastings meet got under way last Saturday with a large and enthusiastic crowd. For many in the industry, it was a day to remember the horseman Glen Todd, who died in late March. He was 75.
Todd’s love for horse racing began at an early age. His parents met at Hastings in 1939, and as a boy, Todd loved going to the races with his father. One of his first involvements with the industry was as a public handicapper as a teenager. After a close brush with death in 2006, he decided to get seriously involved as an owner.
Bella Sofia, the Test winner of 2021, will make her 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Bella Sofia, unraced since running fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, will face just five rivals led by six-time stakes winner Frank’s Rockette.
Bella Sofia and Frank’s Rockette are the last two winners of the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint stakes run here during the fall.
Rougir, a Group 1 winner in France in 2021 for trainer Cedric Rossi, is now in the care of trainer Chad Brown and will make her 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Beaguay Stakes at Belmont Park.
Rougir is now owned by Peter Brant.
At 3, Rougir won the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera, which led to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. In the Breeders’ Cup, Rougier was taken up going into the first turn when she was trying to get position, and basically ran evenly after that.
Trainer Rodolphe Brisset entered two horses in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes for 3-year-olds, including Western River, a full brother to 2016 Belmont Stakes winner Creator.
It took Creator six attempts to win his first race, something he did on Feb. 27, 2016 at Oaklawn Park. Creator won the Arkansas Derby before a 13th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. He got a brilliant ride from Irad Ortiz Jr. in the Belmont to get up by a nose over Destin.
The England-based trainer Charlie Appleby enjoyed great success in the U.S. last year, winning six stakes - five of which were Grade 1’s - from 15 runners. Yibir was responsible for two of those wins, taking the Jockey Club Derby at Belmont Park in September before capping Appleby’s brilliant Breeders’ Cup by winning the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.
Yibir will be Appleby’s first runner in the U.S. in 2022 when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War Stakes at 1 3/8 miles over Belmont’s inner turf course.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Arlington Million that will be run over the Churchill Downs turf course this summer is the next likely major target for Santin, with maybe one race in between, trainer Brendan Walsh said Wednesday.
Santin rose into the elite ranks of the male turf division by winning the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard Saturday at Churchill. The 4-year-old Distorted Humor colt “likes it here, likes the course, so in the long term you’d have to think about the Arlington Million,” said Walsh.
California trainer Doug O’Neill plans to have runners in leading stakes for 3-year-olds throughout the nation in coming weeks and months, beginning with the upstart B Dawk in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on May 21 at Pimlico.
B Dawk, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Joseph Besecker, won a maiden special weight race at about seven furlongs at Keeneland on April 24. The Sir Barton Stakes, part of the undercard of the Preakness program, will be B Dawk’s first start around two turns.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Blue Stripe, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes in her 2022 debut on April 30, will have one more start before the conclusion of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on June 19.
Trainer Marcelo Polanco said last weekend that Blue Stripe will start in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on June 18. The Santa Margarita Stakes was run at 1 1/8 miles.
