ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - In his last two starts over the Arlington Park grass course, Tizdejavu was badly beaten as the even-money favorite in the 2009 Sea O'Erin Handicap and as a similarly popular choice in the 2008 Secretariat Stakes. On Sunday, Tizdejavu wasn't even favored to beat five foes in a turf allowance race, but this time he came through, winning for the first time in almost a year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In winning Sunday's featured third race at Churchill Downs, a $58,800 money allowance on grass, Keertana earned herself a stakes engagement. It just remains to be seen where that engagement will come.
Trainer Tom Proctor said Tuesday he is leaning toward bringing Keertana back in the Grade 3 Mint Julep Handicap at Churchill on June 5, although other more lucrative options also are under consideration. Also that day, on the Belmont Stakes undercard, is the Grade 1 Just a Game Handicap, and that same afternoon in Canada at Woodbine is the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Game On Dude's name can be added to the list of Belmont Stakes starters to emerge in the last week. On Saturday, Game On Dude won the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Derby.
Others who have recently been mentioned for the Belmont include Ice Box, Fly Down, and Uptowncharlybrown.
In the Lone Star Derby, which was run at 1 1/16 miles, Game On Dude closed strongly for a 4 1/2-length win. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 95.
For the first time in four years, Larry Jones and his wife, Cindy, were several hundred miles away from Louisville when the Kentucky Derby was run. Watching the race on television from their temporary home in Delaware was just fine for them.
"It was the best Kentucky Derby I've had out of the last three," Larry Jones said Tuesday morning at Delaware Park, where he was getting on about eight or nine horses for Cindy, the new head trainer of the stable. "Hard Spun [second in 2007] was a pretty good Derby, but the other two kind of sucked."
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington Park could continue limping forward, its future uncertain, if the Illinois state legislature doesn't pass legislation bringing electronic gaming to the state's racetracks. Or, if gaming at tracks is legalized, Arlington could become a suburban Chicago entertainment hub with a horse racing purse structure more than double that currently offered.
ALBANY, Calif. - Three-year-olds will be in the spotlight Saturday, and not just at the Preakness. They will run at Golden Gate Fields in the $60,000 Alcatraz, a 1 1/16-mile turf test.
The track, which cut several stakes earlier this year, retained the Alcatraz and the Golden Poppy, a turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies, in part because of the depth of the local 3-year-old division.
MIAMI - The weather has really started to heat up in south Florida since April turned to May and so too have the big guns in trainer David Fawkes's arsenal, Duke of Mischief and Big Drama.
Both Duke of Mischief and Big Drama moved another step closer to their next start when they worked here Sunday morning. Duke of Mischief is preparing for another possible shot at a Grade 1 victory, while Big Drama readies for his much-anticipated 2010 debut, which could come locally within the next month.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It was a big weekend for Rail Trip. Not as big for Zenyatta. Rail Trip raced, and Zenyatta merely practiced. But even if they do not meet in a race this summer at Hollywood Park, the microscope is always on the top horses in California.
Rail Trip scored a solid comeback win Saturday, a 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap that was his seventh win from 10 starts. It was his first start since September, and a race he was expected to win at 1-2 odds.