Clairiere was a good 2-year-old, finishing second in the Grade 2 Golden Rod, just her second career start.
She was much better last year at age 3, finishing fourth in the Kentucky Oaks, second in the Alabama, winning the Grade 1 Cotillion, and capping a long season with a close fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
From the look of her 2022 debut Wednesday at Fair Grounds, Clairiere is going to be even better at age 4.
From December 2020 through January 2022, the reformed maiden claimer Two Emmys had gone 2-5-1 from nine starts. He’d finished second to multiple Grade 1 winner Colonel Liam in the 2021 Muniz Memorial, the most important grass race at Fair Grounds, and won the Grade 1 Mr. D stakes over Domestic Spending last summer at Arlington.
So, it was wholly uncharacteristic when Two Emmys checked in 10th, beaten seven lengths, on Feb. 19 in the Fair Grounds Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It’s already been a good winter for David Lyon’s Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, having won two stakes with the promising 3-year-old colt Morello. That outfit will seek another stakes victory Saturday with Monshun in the $100,000 Cicada Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Monshun, a daughter of Unified, was a debut winner last Aug. 18 at Saratoga, but was sidelined due to a chip in an ankle that needed to be surgically removed. Trainer Ray Handal was hoping to bring Monshun back in an allowance race, but it didn’t fill.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There are signs of spring popping up everywhere. From the start of daylight saving time to the thermometer surpassing the 60-degree mark on Wednesday to the first turf race showing up in the condition book, albeit not until April 7.
Another sign of spring is activity at the Christophe Clement barn on the Belmont Park backstretch. Clement, himself still in Florida, said he has 12 horses in New York, three of which are in action on Friday’s Aqueduct card.
Two surprising names – one a horse, the other a jockey – showed up in the Fair Grounds entries for Saturday.
Bound for Nowhere, one of the best turf sprinters in North America since 2018, is set to make his 8-year-old debut in a high-end allowance race, carded for about 5 1/2 furlongs on grass, with an $80,000 claiming option. Bound for Nowhere was shipped to Fair Grounds earlier this week from his winter base at Turfway Park, and if Saturday’s races stay on grass, John Velazquez will fly to New Orleans from Southern California to ride him.
The $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes for statebred fillies and mares will be part of a lucrative pick-six sequence on Saturday at Santa Anita.
The track announced last weekend that the 20-cent Rainbow pick six will have a mandatory payout on Saturday’s program.
The bet had a carryover of $358,858 going into Friday’s program. Assuming there is not a single-ticket winner on Friday, track officials are projecting a pool of $4 million in additional money in the pick six on Saturday.
Jockey Kyle Frey, who through Sunday ranked 12th in the standings at Santa Anita with 10 wins at the winter-spring meeting, has been suspended four days for causing interference in the second race last Friday at Santa Anita.
Frey was cited for failing to maintain a straight course on Magnificent Ride, who was disqualified from second and placed fifth. The suspension covers racing days on Saturday and Sunday this weekend and March 25-26.
Micro Share, the easy winner of a maiden special weight race at a mile last Friday, will be considered for the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on April 9, trainer Richard Mandella said Wednesday.
From a local perspective, there may not be another available race in the short-term for the promising 3-year-old filly. Allowance races for the division are rare, if run at all, at this time of year.
“In this day and age, you don’t have a lot of choices,” Mandella said. “She’s an improving filly, so we’ll take a shot at it.”
A few weeks earlier than expected, turf racing resumes at Golden Gate Fields on Friday with a one-mile allowance race for fillies and mares.
An unexpected dry winter accelerated the return of the course, racing secretary Patrick Mackey said last weekend.
“It’s about a week and a half or two weeks early,” Mackey said.
“It was growing so well and is in great condition. We walked it two weeks ago and decided we would go slowly.”
Plans are on hold for Strike Hard, who was scratched Saturday from the Tampa Bay Derby after spiking a temperature last Friday, a day after being shipped over from Gulfstream. The gray Flashback colt is back home.
“He’s not back training quite yet,” trainer Matthew Williams said mid-week. “We’ve got to watch him and see.”
