The fabulous filly Echo Zulu is ramping up the pace of her training as she approaches the first start of her 3-year-old season.
Echo Zulu won all four of her 2021 starts at age 2, capping her campaign with a 5 1/4-length romp in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, her third Grade 1 victory following wins in the Spinaway at Saratoga and the Frizette at Belmont.
Danjer, the world champion Quarter Horse of 2021, could launch his season in the Grade 1 Leo on April 30 at Remington Park.
Trainer Dean Frey told track publicity the race was a goal for the horse. Last year, Danjer was second by a nose in the Leo before winning the Grade 1 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship.
Remington was to open a 50-date Quarter Horse meet Thursday. The season will run through May 28.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn on Saturday recognized John Ed Anthony as its all-time leading owner following his 12th-race victory with Rolling Fork. Oaklawn listed the win as the 270th for the owner in 50 years of racing at Oaklawn.
Anthony came back Sunday and won the Oaklawn feature with The Mary Rose, an Arkansas-bred who defeated open-company fillies and mares routing with a Beyer Speed Figure of 93. She’s ticketed for an Arkansas-bred stakes later in the meet, said trainer John Ortiz, who also saddled Rolling Fork.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Call Me Jamal looked like Jamal Adams at his best when he took down a rival on a clear lead to win a Saturday allowance at Oaklawn Park.
Now, the 3-year-old is set to test his division’s best.
Trainer Michael Puhich said Tuesday that Call Me Jamal will likely make his next start in either the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 2 at Oaklawn or the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass on April 9 at Keeneland.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saffie Joseph Jr., who entered this week with a 41-37 lead over perennial leading trainer Todd Pletcher atop the 2021-22 championship meet standings, is looking for a big run in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday from A. P.’s Secret, a last-out allowance winner making his stakes debut. Joseph already has White Abarrio, winner of the Holy Bull, as a Derby contender.
“This is a big step up, and he’s going to have to prove himself,” Joseph said of A. P.’s Secret. “But we think he’s a colt with a lot of class and we’re confident he’s going to run a big race.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Horses on the Kentucky Derby trail typically need to overcome a hurdle or two. A few colts set to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park are fair examples.
Rattle N Roll, trained by Kenny McPeek, and the Dale Romans duo of Howling Time and Giant Game already have experienced minor physical setbacks on the Derby trail, but all are healed up and looking to put their best hooves forward in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Messier, the No. 1-ranked male 3-year-old in North America by Daily Racing Form, heads the 100 nominees for this year’s Canadian Triple Crown put out by Woodbine.
Messier has won 3 of 5 starts, all in Southern California, under the guidance of trainer Bob Baffert. Named after hockey great Mark Messier, the son of Empire Maker was a 15-length winner of the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis on Feb. 6 at Santa Anita, when he earned a whopping 103 Beyer Speed Figure.
The six graded stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday have been neatly packaged into two sets of three races through the 11-race program, the richest day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.
The stakes are worth a combined $2.45 million, with three Grade 2 races – the $200,000 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs, $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf, and $400,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-yeear-olds at 1 1/16 miles -- positioned from the fourth through sixth for national television coverage.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Beautiful Art is scheduled to have his stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, a third race in six weeks amidst a somewhat strange late winter campaign.
Beautiful Art was last of eight in a maiden special weight race at six furlongs on Jan. 22 in his debut, but rebounded to win a $200,000 claiming race for maidens at six furlongs on Feb. 11 at 6-1. Trainer Simon Callaghan hoped to start Beautiful Art in a first-condition allowance race, but has instead opted for an entry in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Got married. Moved from the Mid-Atlantic to New York. Relocated to California. Underwent ankle surgery. Returned to New York. Became a father.
Those are just some of the highlights of the last 14 months for jockey Trevor McCarthy. While life as the father of an 11-week-old daughter is hectic, things have pretty much stabilized for the 27-year-old McCarthy. Healthy in body and mind, McCarthy is enjoying a stellar winter professionally at Aqueduct as he attempts to break into the New York Racing Association colony on a full-time basis.
