ALBANY, Calif. - Russell Baze rode six winners at Golden Gate Fields on Friday, including the feature race with Bold Chieftain. Four of his winners were for trainer Steve Sherman.
Baze guided Bold Chieftain ($3.80) to a three-quarter-length victory over Monterey Jazz in the day's feature race at one mile. The final time of 1:36.21 is the fastest time of the meet at the distance. Bold Chieftain, 7, who may run next in the Grade 2 San Francisco Mile for trainer Bill Morey Jr.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Friday was a good day at the office for Blind Luck. She became a millionaire and established herself as the probable favorite for the Kentucky Oaks with a powerful, last-to-first win in the at Oaklawn.
The race was the second career dirt start for Blind Luck, a multiple Grade 1 winner in Southern California who had won her career debut on dirt at Calder in June 2009. Friday, Blind Luck rolled out her patented closing kick through the lane of the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy, winning by 2 1/2 lengths over Tidal Pool.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Huge youngish crowd throngs Keeneland on beautiful opening day. Christophe Clement wins with a promising turf horse. Dog bites man.
No surprises here, as favored Nordic Truce was able to get up in the final strides to win the featured when Keeneland opened its 15-day spring meet before a record crowd of 24,734.
Nordic Truce "put me in the race early and relaxed down the backstretch," said Julien Leparoux, who was aboard the 3-year-old Yes It's True colt for Clement and owner Ammerland Stud. "Then he came home strong for me."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Grazettes Landing came from a stalking position under Patrick Husbands to land his first stakes Friday in the $102,400 Debut, the opening-day feature of the 167-day Woodbine meet.
Grazettes Landing ($11) ran four wide on the turn in the five-furlong dash, as Paso Doble and Bold Nurse dueled through an opening quarter in 21.99 seconds.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - They say that character is best revealed under trying circumstances, which says a lot about the smile that trainer Larry Demeritte managed to put on his face in the aftermath of the first race of the Keeneland spring meet Friday.
Demeritte had just seen Weekend Wildcat, a 2-year-old colt he trains for Mervin and Barbara McNamara, come up on the short end of a nose photo. With 100 yards to go, Weekend Wildcat appeared to have gotten the best of Wetzel after the pair had hooked up in early stretch, but Wetzel battled back along the rail to prevail in a head-bob.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Kinsale King has been sent back to California following his win in the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai on March 27, and trainer Carl O'Callaghan is already finalizing details for another international trip - to England for the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19.
O'Callaghan, who won the biggest race of his career in the Shaheen, said Kinsale King will not start again until the Group 1 Golden Jubilee, which is run over a straight six furlongs on turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hank Gensler and Mike Lightner, both of whom worked as assistant trainers for U.S.-based outfits last year, are back here this year to train on their own accounts.
Gensler, a 41-year-old native of Dallas, Texas, came to Woodbine in the summer of 2008 as an assistant to Steve Asmussen and continued in that role through last year's meeting.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Not every trainer handles adversity in the same manner. Some who are often quite gracious in victory can be equally as difficult to deal with following a defeat.
They all should take a lesson from Mary Hartmann.
Win or lose, first or last, sometimes it's hard to tell with the classy Hartmann.
John Sadler finally caught "The Hurt Locker" on video not long ago and took it very much to heart. Not the parts about disarming IEDs in a hostile Iraqi landscape or holding a bead on a distant sniper for hours on end beneath a withering desert sun. The job of a Thoroughbred trainer can be challenging, but it's rarely lethal.
No, what hit home with Sadler was a quiet scene with the protagonist soldier back home stateside, submitting to the mundane task of grocery shopping while feeling utterly lost and completely out of place.
WORKOUT OF THE WEEK
Just Jenda tuned up for a possible start in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom with a flashy five-furlong move Monday morning at Oaklawn. She went the distance in 58.80 seconds, with clockers catching her galloping out six furlongs in 1:12. If she goes in the Apple Blossom, a 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares, she is expected to meet undefeated champion Zenyatta.
