Helicopter, who won as many North American races -- nine -- as all but one other horse during 2009, has picked up in 2010 where he left off last year. Helicopter has won his first three starts this season, and seeks another victory while taking a step up in class into the featured ninth race on Friday at Arlington.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington Park fans were treated to an appearance by champion Informed Decision last summer, and if the filly continues to hold good health, she has been penciled in for another trip to Chicago.
Since finishing third in a pair of Grade 1 races during April in
Kentucky, Informed Decision has posted bullet workouts on May 14 (half-mile in 47.20 seconds) and May 21 (five furlongs in 58.80) at Presque Isle Downs in western Pennsylvania, but trainer Jonathan Sheppard said the quick works weren't suggestive of an imminent race.
Take the Points, fifth in the Dubai Duty Free at Meydan in the United Arab Emirates in March, is on schedule to make his return to the races in the Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan Handicap on June 5.
Some horses that ship to Dubai sometimes don't return to their top form for a while, if at all. Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Take the Points, didn't have that problem in 2007 when Honey Ryder, 11th in the Sheema Classic, came back to win the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay and English Channel, 12th in the Dubai Duty Free, came back to get beat a head in the Grade 1 Manhattan by Better Talk Now.
Malibu Prayer, who ended her 3-year-old season with a pair of stakes wins in one-turn mile races, makes her 4-year-old debut in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000
Vagrancy Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Malibu Prayer drew post 4 in the seven-horse field, which includes Tar Heel Mom and Hour Glass, the one-two finishers in the Grade 2 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct on April 17. Hour Glass and Malibu Prayer are both trained by Todd Pletcher, but will run as an uncoupled entry.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Ironman Jon, the lightly aced New York-bred who ran a creditable third in the Grade 3 Westchester on April 30, will miss Monday's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap after suffering an apparent foot injury after working a strong five furlongs Wednesday at Belmont Park.
Following the renovation break, Ironman Jon completed a five-
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Kinsale King, winner of the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai in March, will need a new jockey for his next scheduled start, in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19.
Garrett Gomez, who was aboard Kinsale King in Dubai, is likely to have riding obligations at Colonial Downs in Virginia that day, according to his agent, Ron Anderson.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Gail Cox continued her early-season surge when sending out Jesters Jazz to upset the $126,200 Lady Angela under regular rider Tyler Pizarro on Monday.
The seven-furlong Lady Angela, for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies, was the second start of the season and the third in the career of Jesters Jazz.
"I was a little surprised - I thought there were some pretty nice horses in there," said Cox.
"Tyler was extremely confident going into the race. I was a little more reserved."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Less than a week after coming into the D. Wayne Lukas barn, Mine That Bird had his first timed breeze when
going three furlongs in 35.20 seconds early Wednesday over a fast track at Churchill Downs.
Mine That Bird, winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby, has not raced since finishing ninth in the Nov. 7
The privately held casino company Harrah's Entertainment has reached a second deal to buy Thistledown racetrack near Cleveland, but this time at roughly half the price.
Harrah's prevailed in a private auction in New York on Tuesday over Penn National Gaming Inc. to buy the track from MI Developments with a final bid of $43 million, according to officials close to the auction. The auction was scheduled after Harrah's scuttled a deal struck last year to buy the track for $89.5 million because of changes on the Ohio gambling landscape.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Workin for Hops seized the early advantage, opened up a big lead into the homestretch, and won Saturday's $100,000 Arlington Classic by more than two lengths. And now Workin for Hops will move on to the . . . on to the . . . on to the who-knows-what.
The Arlington Classic is the first leg of Arlington's Mid-America
Triple for 3-year-old grass horses, but this year the second leg, the Grade 2, $300,000 American Derby, doesn't come around till July 17, a gap of seven weeks. That's because the American Derby is part of