HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The field for the Arkansas Derby picked up a significant new player on Tuesday morning, when the Lane's End Stakes runner-up, Northern Giant, joined the lineup for the Grade 1, $1 million race.
"He's in," said D. Wayne Lukas, who trains Northern Giant for Westrock Stables.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - It may not be the most well-traveled route to the Kentucky Oaks, using a seven-furlong statebred stakes at Tampa Bay Downs as a final prep, but that's the road trainer Barry Rose chose to take with his multiple graded stakes-placed Joanie's Catch to get her to the big dance for 3-year-old fillies on April 30 at Churchill Downs.
OPELOUSAS, La. - Evangeline Downs will have a new post time when the 2010 season gets under way on Wednesday evening, but little else has changed from last season. It is easy to see why Evangeline is content to play a pat hand.
Although the industry-wide slump pervaded in 2009, the declines at Evangeline were minimal compared with those of many racing centers across the nation. Buoyed by slots-infused purses and an ample supply of horses, Evangeline officials are optimistic heading into the 2010 stand.
Blind Luck and Tidal Pool, who finished one-two in the Grade 2, $300,000 Fantasy here last Friday, are both headed next to the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on April 30. Blind Luck flew back to her California base on Monday. She dominated her rivals, winning by 2 1/2 lengths and earning a career-best Beyer Figure of 104.
"She came out of the race real nice," said Jerry Hollendorfer, who co-owns and trains Blind Luck.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Tiz the One did not join Super Saver and Pulsion aboard a Monday flight to Oaklawn for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby after failing to come out of his final work for the race to the satisfaction of his connections. With his defection, the field size stood at six as of Monday, with two others possible for the 1 1/8-mile race that closes out the meet Saturday.
Informed Decision, winner of the 2009 Eclipse Award for top female sprinter, will make her seasonal debut Thursday at Keeneland in the Grade 1, $300,000 Vinery Madison Stakes, a seven-furlong race she won last year at 4.
Informed Decision, who has not raced since winning the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, will have Julien Leparoux aboard when she breaks from the outside post in a field of six fillies and mares. Witty, undefeated in four starts, and Dubai Majesty, an earner of more than $550,000, look like the top challengers.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ken Ramsey said he believes Pleasant Prince probably would have made the 20-horse cutoff for the 136th Kentucky Derby even without another race. But just to make sure, Ramsey has instructed trainer Wesley Ward to prepare the colt for a run Saturday in the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
Pleasant Prince, owned by Ramsey and his wife, Sarah, has $162,500 in graded earnings, most of them from the March 20 Florida Derby, in which he closed stoutly to finish second by a nose to Ice Box.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Daniel Centeno, who has managed to build a commanding lead in the rider standings at Tampa Bay Downs despite having survived several spills as well as being kicked in the chest by a horse in the paddock, will be moving to a different part of the country when this meet concludes on May 2.
Centeno, who rode at Monmouth Park the past three seasons, will be heading to Presque Isle Downs in western Pennsylvania, according to his agent, Dan Mellul.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Goldsville's workmanlike victory in Saturday's was the sixth victory from seven stakes starters this year in New York for trainer Mike Hushion.
Hushion's previous stakes wins on this circuit came with Tidal Dance (Affectionately and Ladies), Rereadthefootnotes (Hollie Hughes), Lights Off Annie (Broadway), and Shine Upon (Dreamy Mimi). Hushion's only stakes loss in New York came when Lights Off Annie finished second in The Wheel Turns.