Soaring Empire, an impressive seven-furlong allowance winner here earlier in the meet, has tossed his hat in the ring for next Saturday's Grade 1 Florida Derby, said trainer Cam Gambolati.
Soaring Empire, a son of Empire Maker, is owned by Rick Pitino's Ol Memorial Stable and Clinton Glasscock. Soaring Empire has won 2 of his 3 starts, with his lone loss a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs in his 2-year-old finale.
NEW ORLEANS - Conveyance already has won the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, and Lookin At Lucky was to go off favored in the Rebel Stakes there Saturday. Bob Baffert's Southern California synthetic-to-dirt shippers are making hay in Arkansas, and Baffert also will try to take down the March 27 Louisiana Derby here at Fair Grounds.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Mighty Morris, a pace-setting winner in his last two races, will likely get his first stakes experience Saturday in the $65,000 Kings Point Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
A 5-year-old gelding trained by Tom Bush, Mighty Morris finally put it all together this winter, marching through his first- and second -level statebred allowance conditions.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Michael Baze is ready to start over.
Thursday, he said he plans to relocate to the Midwest this summer, focusing on the Arlington Park meeting from April 29 through Sept. 26. Baze is hoping the move will help him win a third riding title. He was leading rider at the 2007 Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting and Del Mar meeting, but has seen his success slump in the last year.
Currently, he is tied for 14th in the jockey standings at the Santa Anita meeting, with 10 wins.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The near-track-record performance Chief of Affairs turned in Thursday winning an allowance at Oaklawn has put him in the mix for the Grade 3, $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap here April 9, said his trainer, Bret Calhoun.
Chief of Affairs covered 5 1/2 furlongs in a blazing 1:02.91. The track record for the distance is 1:02.60. It was set on Feb. 15, 1984, by Sis Pleasure Fager. On Thursday, Chief of Affairs made all the pace and won by 5 1/4 lengths under Cliff Berry.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Terri Pompay isn't crazy about running Mannington back on just 11 days' rest in Sunday's Sunshine State Stakes at Gulfstream Park. But then again how many opportunities will there be for a mid-level claiming and allowance horse to compete for a $75,000 purse against statebred opposition?
"I had originally nominated him for this stakes, but then elected to go in the optional claiming race earlier this month because it was a softer spot, and he won easily," said Pompay, who trains Mannington for Wanda Polisseni's My Purple Haze Stable.
No one will be paying closer attention than Bob Elliston when the seedings and pairings are announced Sunday evening on the "Selection Sunday" telecast for the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament.
Elliston, president of Turfway Park, is hoping that the University of Kentucky will be a No. 1 seed in either the South or Midwest region.
"The No. 1 seed in those regions play their Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games on a Friday and Sunday [March 26 and 28]," Elliston said. "That would avert a huge conflict for us."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Friday's racing program at Gulfstream Park was canceled after the fourth race when the jockeys deemed the racetrack unsafe due to heavy rains which began falling late this morning.
"The riders expressed to management their concerns about the safety of the track following the fourth race," said Caton Bredar, Gulfstream Park's executive director of media development. "After several of the jockey representatives inspected some of the trouble areas on the track with officials, the decision was made to cancel the remainder of the card."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta lead the list of 45 fillies and mares that have been nominated to the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park on April 9. If the two champions run in the mile and a eighth race, the purse will be worth $5 million.
:: APPLE BLOSSOM: (PDF)
Trainer Jeffrey Scott Raley has been suspended a year by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission after one of his grooms was found poised to give one of his horses what officials believed to be a syringe of vodka about 45 minutes before a scheduled race Feb. 28 at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
Kentucky chief steward John Veitch said that Raley was suspended, effective March 18, because of the trainer responsibility rule. The groom, whose name has not been released, was scheduled to appear at a stewards' hearing Saturday. The subject horse, Spontaneous Diva, was scratched.