OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It’s been a decade since trainer Shug McGaughey has run a horse at Aqueduct in the month of March. That is expected to change next week when the Hall of Famer ships up Radio Days from South Florida for the $250,000 Busher Invitational on March 5.
Radio Days, a daughter of Gun Runner owned by Joe Allen, won a first-level allowance by 8 1/2 lengths on Dec. 2 at Aqueduct. That followed a debut victory at Belmont going six furlongs Oct. 31.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Letruska, the 2021 Eclipse champion as top older dirt female runner, will make her 6-year-old debut and be heavily favored Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Royal Delta, the highlight of the coming weekend at Gulfstream.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Chad Brown said this week that Regal Glory is being pointed to the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on April 16 at Keeneland after it was decided by owner Peter Brant that the 6-year-old mare will continue to race rather than be retired.
Regal Glory breezed a half-mile in 50 seconds Saturday at Payson Park in her first work since she earned a third straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure with a flashy 2 1/2-length victory as the odds-on favorite in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf here Jan. 29.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Marty Drexler is living the dream. The 51-year-old native of Slovakia is running horses at Gulfstream Park for the first time – and doing pretty good at it, too – while fulfilling an ambition that began in his teens.
“I remember coming down here and watching Cigar when I was a groom and still mostly a fan,” Drexler said between races on a recent weekday at Gulfstream. “It was a place I’d wanted to go for a long, long time.”
Santin might have finished fourth as the favorite this past Saturday in the Fair Grounds Stakes, but it was far from a disappointing fourth, nor was the colt an obvious favorite.
Priced at 12-1 on the track’s morning line, Santin went off the 5-2 favorite in the Grade 3, $150,000 Fair Grounds Stakes, with bettors recognizing the merit of his three-race 2021 campaign, which ended with a tough second-place finish in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby.
Olympiad’s second stakes start was far less confusing than his first.
The talented 4-year-old colt did everything right this past Saturday at Fair Grounds, shipping from South Florida to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Mineshaft Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths, and clocking a track-record 1:42.01 for 1 1/16 miles.
“He’s a nice little horse,” trainer Bill Mott said. “It looks like he came out if it well enough. He ran fast. We’ll let him get over this race and talk about another one.”
Call Me Midnight didn’t work this past weekend at Fair Grounds but remains on target for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 26.
Call Me Midnight rallied from 12 lengths back into a hot, contested pace and nipped Epicenter at the wire of the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 22 at Fair Grounds, but while Call Me Midnight benefited from the race dynamics, Epicenter’s facile Risen Star Stakes win last Saturday did flatter him.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Necker Island won a stakes-quality allowance at a mile Monday at Oaklawn, and trainer Chris Hartman said Tuesday he’s not sure whether Necker Island will continue to run at two turns or turn back to a sprint. He won the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine at six furlongs in November at Churchill with a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 93 and equaled that number at two turns Monday.
Necker Island came into the feature off a fourth-place finish in the $150,000 Fifth Season at a mile at Oaklawn.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Barber Road had his final work for the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Monday, breezing a half-mile in company at Oaklawn Park. He is the probable second choice to Newgrange after finishing second to that one in last month’s Southwest Stakes.
Barber Road worked in 48 seconds under jockey Reylu Gutierrez, who will be aboard in the Rebel.
“It was nothing but a maintenance workout, just for him to stretch his legs,” trainer John Ortiz said Monday. “He broke off behind his company and he stayed behind up until the eighth pole, when he joined him.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The $1 million Rebel Stakes will go as the 11th-race on a 12-race card Saturday that has special first post of noon Central.
The field from the rail with riders is: Kavod, Francisco Arrieta; Newgrange, John Velazquez; Cairama, Geovanni Franco; Un Ojo, Ramon Vazquez; Texas Red Hot, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Stellar Tap, Cristian Torres; Ben Diesel, Jon Court; Chasing Time, Tyler Gaffalione; Barber Road, Reylu Gutierrez; Ethereal Road, Luis Contreras; and Dash Attack, David Cohen.
Oaklawn officials said Newgrange was supplemented to the Rebel.
