ARCADIA, Calif. - Two-time champion Indian Blessing, second in the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai on March 28, will make a quick turnaround for the $300,000 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 2, trainer Bob Baffert said.
Baffert said Indian Blessing has shown no effects of a trip to the other side of the world or her first start against males. Often, horses that compete in Dubai are given lengthy breaks, returning to racing during the summer.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Jockey Elvis Trujillo woke up Easter morning with 999 career victories. A few hours later, the up-and-coming young rider joined the 1,000-win club after taking Sunday's opening race at Gulfstream Park aboard Bahia Girl, owned by Stronach Stable.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Tyler Baze's sweep of the weekend stakes at Santa Anita did not come easily.
A day after winning the La Puente Stakes aboard Battle of Hastings, Baze guided Gotta Have Her to a nose win in the $100,000 Las Cienegas Handicap for fillies and mares.
Gotta Have Her ($13.40) overcame a stumble at the start to win the Grade 3 Las Cienegas over Reba Is Tops, a 16-1 shot. Tuscan Evening, the 3-5 favorite who was seeking her third consecutive win, finished third after leading to the final furlong.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Royal Proclamation and Alice K White won major stakes for 3-year-old Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos over the weekend, the first career graded stakes win for both.
Royal Proclamation ($10.40) won Friday's $192,300 El Primero Del Ano Derby by a head over A Tempting Dash, the winner of the Los Alamitos Winter Derby in February. Royal Proclamation ran 400 yards in 19.475 seconds, setting a stakes record under jockey Ramon Sanchez.
Relaxing comfortably under rider Ken Tohill, Cape of Bradford ($6.80) cruised to a wire-to-wire win in Saturday s $50,000 Czaria Handicap at Sunland Park. Sailor s Sister finished three-quarters of a length back in second and was followed by Testify to Love.
"She was certainly on top of her game today," Tohill said. "We were a little worried about the wind. I tried to get her to relax down the backside. In the end, I didn t have to ask her. She did it all on her own."
Jockey Diego Saenz recorded a stakes riding double this weekend at Evangeline Downs, following up his Friday night win in the Inaugural Stakes on Code of Honour with a runaway victory Saturday night aboard Southern Yankee in the $50,000 Hallowed Dreams Stakes.
Longshot Scared Psalm finished second in the 5 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies, nine lengths behind Southern Yankee. Reckon finished third.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The first two finishers in Saturday's Arkansas Derby are both headed to Kentucky, but only the victorious Papa Clem will go to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby on May 2. Runner-up Old Fashioned will go to Lexington for knee surgery.
Papa Clem "looks perfect," his trainer, Gary Stute, said Sunday morning here at Oaklawn Park as Papa Clem walked the barn's shedrow. "Last night, he was trying to bite everybody. He was feeling like a million bucks."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Old Fashioned is out of the Kentucky Derby after emerging from his second-place finish in the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday with a non-displaced slab fracture to his right knee, said his trainer, Larry Jones. The horse is scheduled to ship Monday to Lexington, Ky., where he could have surgery at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital.
"It's not life-threatening, it should be okay," Jones said. "Career-ending is a possibility just because of the type of horse he is. But we'll see. We'll let them make that call."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Papa Clem, who in his last two starts played runner-up to Kentucky Derby candidates Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire, picked up a major prep win of his own on Saturday when he drove past pacesetter and even-money favorite Old Fashioned to win the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.