ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Audre Cappuccitti enjoyed plenty of success with El Prado Essence, a Kentucky-bred mare who banked $890,281.
Owned by Cappuccitti and her husband, Gord, El Prado Essence won four stakes and placed in 12 others while compiling an overall record of 10-11- 4 in 34 starts from 1999 through 2004.
On Sunday, Cappuccitti will be looking to rediscover the sweet smell of stakes success with Essence Hit Man, a son of El Prado Essence.
Wall Street Wonder continued his preparations for a start in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Handicap on May 1 by working a strong five furlongs in 59.92 seconds Tuesday morning over Belmont Park's training track. It was his second straight bullet move.
"Looks ready,'' trainer John Terranova said.
Winslow Homer, who emerged from his victory in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes in January with a stress fracture to the cannon bone in his right foreleg, has gone back into training at Delaware Park, Tony Dutrow said Wednesday.
A 3-year-old son of Unbridled's Song, Winslow Homer is just jogging but could begin galloping next week, Dutrow said. Dutrow is hoping Winslow Homer could return for the summer races.
"If everything goes perfect with him he will be ready to run sometime in July,'' Dutrow said.
She'll Be Doggone, who was taken up sharply in the stretch as the 4-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes on April 10, has been diagnosed with a broken foot and has been retired, trainer Tony Dutrow said. Dutrow said owner Morris Bailey plans to breed She'll Be Dogone this year, though he has not yet booked a stallion.
She'll Be Doggone had won her two previous starts before the Comely.
"I never really said much about her, but I felt she was a very good one,'' said Dutrow, who was critical of jockey Edgar Prado's ride aboard She'll Be Doggone.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Thanks to three supplemental entries, Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct filled with six 3-year-olds.
D' Funnybone, a four-time Grade 2 winner at seven furlongs or shorter, will try a mile on dirt for the first time in the Withers. In his only start beyond seven furlongs, D' Funnybone finished last in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but that race was around two turns and run over a synthetic surface. On dirt, D' Funnybone is 5 for 6 with wins in the Saratoga Special and Belmont Futurity at 2, and the Hutcheson and Swale at 3.
Trainer Mike Puype was expecting a win from Boehle at Santa Anita on March 27 when the unexpected occurred at the starting gate. Boehle reacted to a rival becoming upset, broke through the stalls, unseated jockey Martin Pedroza, and ran off. She was scratched.
The last month has been spent schooling Boehle for her comeback in Friday's seventh race at Hollywood Park, a first-level optional $25,000 claimer for statebred females over 1 1/16 miles on turf.
The Snow Chief Stakes is the richest race on a 10-race California Gold Rush Day program dominated by races for California-breds. In the past, all 10 races were restricted to California-breds, but this year only eight are for statebreds. Two turf stakes are no longer run on Saturday's program.
The Snow Chief Stakes drew a field of eight. Self Made and Alphie's Bet have the inside two post positions.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Caracortado, the winner of the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita in February and one of the leading California-bred males this year, will miss Saturday's $200,000 Snow Chief Stakes at Hollywood Park, trainer Mike Machowsky said.
Jockey Floyd Wethey Jr. is making a strong bid for the riding title at Will Rogers Downs near Tulsa, Okla., after winning four races on the card Tuesday. Wethey won two of them for trainer Jody Pruitt, including the ninth race with $33 longshot Don's Okie Luck.
Wethey's other winners came in the second, fifth, and eighth races. The success had him sitting second in the standings to leader Curtis Kimes, who had a triple at the track Tuesday. Kimes led all riders at the meet with 26 wins through Tuesday. Wethey has 19.
The Oklahoma Classics Day program will be worth a record $1 million this fall in an agreement between the Oklahoma Thoroughbred Association, the Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma, and Remington Park. The tentative date for the program of Oklahoma-bred stakes is Oct. 23.
Last year, the Classics at Remington offered eight divisional stakes with purses totaling $570,000. This year, each of the eight races will be increased in value, while two races will be added to the lineup, said R. D. Logan, executive director of the OTA.