Ben Cecil's full roster of 3-year-old fillies will be on display in the $100,000 Senorita Stakes on turf next weekend. Cecil has three fillies nominated to the Grade 3 race over a mile - Andina, Bab at the Bowster, and Elusive Galaxy - and all are capable of winning.
"I'll probably run all three," he said. "I've got nowhere else to run. I'll try to split them up from there."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It was not until Art Sherman put the saddle on Summer Movie before Friday evening's fifth race at Hollywood Park that he realized how much the colt had grown since his 2-year-old season last year.
"You don't realize it until you see them under tack," he said.
About 15 minutes later, Sherman saw yet another developing side of Summer Movie. Making his first start since late November, Summer Movie won an optional claimer over a mile on turf by three lengths, leaving the trainer delightfully stunned.
Setsuko will run at Churchill Downs this weekend, but not in the race that trainer Richard Mandella would prefer.
With Setsuko too far down the list on graded stakes earnings to be assured a place in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, Mandella will use Friday's $175,000 American Turf Stakes over 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds as a consolation.
Second in the Santa Anita Derby on April 3, Setsuko was second in an optional claimer over 1 1/8 miles of turf at Santa Anita on Jan. 27, his only start on the surface.
A couple of decisions before entries are drawn Tuesday at Churchill Downs will have an impact on the makeup of the 136th Kentucky Oaks, but overall, the 14-horse lineup appears fairly well set.
The most important call still to come involves the filly Devil May Care, whose connections, owned Glencrest Farm and trainer Todd Pletcher, have said she may opt for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday instead of the Oaks the previous day. If Devil May Care runs in the Oaks, she could vie for favoritism with Blind Luck.
First, it was travel restrictions. Now, it's just plain old work that is keeping trainer Jeremy Noseda from flying in from England to join his Kentucky Derby hopeful Awesome Act at Churchill Downs.
Noseda, who couldn't be in Kentucky for Awesome Act's workout last Tuesday due to travel restrictions in Europe caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland, said he has reservations on flights leaving England on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He has not yet decided which flight he will take.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One week ago, Patti Barry worked Kentucky Derby favorite Eskendereya for trainer Todd Pletcher at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida. On Saturday, Barry was at Churchill Downs, where she guided Pletcher's top 3-year-old filly Devil May Care through arguably the morning's most impressive workout.
Being entrusted with such valuable, young horses during morning workouts is nothing new for Barry, whose husband, Tristan, is one of Pletcher's top assistants based in Florida during the winter and New York in the summer.
Its purses have been reduced to bare subsistence levels, and Fairmount Park continues to face growing competition from nearby slots-fueled racetracks in Indiana. But this, at least, can be said about 2010 at Fairmount: There will be racing.
Fairmount's 50-day meeting begins Tuesday, lacking fanfare, scarcely noticed in much of the country. But that there would be much of a race meet at all this year seemed less than certain just a few months ago.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Despite spectacular spring weather to help things along, ontrack attendance at the Keeneland spring meet that ended Friday was down marginally from last year while both ontrack and all-sources handle tumbled 7 and 8 percent, respectively, according to preliminary figures released Friday evening by the track.
Total attendance for the 15-day meet was 238,282, an average of 15,885, down 1 percent from the 240,755 (average 16,050) who turned out last year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Saturday morning at Churchill Downs was all about the rain, the sloppy racetrack, and trainer Todd Pletcher, who made the biggest splash by working five of his Derby contenders, but not the likely Derby favorite Eskendereya.
As expected, the rains came early Saturday with the racetrack already sloppy by the time it opened for business at 5:45 a.m. and it wasn't much better when all the Derby workers made their way onto the course immediately after the renovation break nearly three hours later.
Work of the day
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Eskendereya, the favorite for the Kentucky Derby, had a workout planned for Saturday postponed because of wet weather, though trainer Todd Pletcher said he still planned to work the bulk of his Derby runners on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.
