BALTIMORE - Multiple graded stakes winners Kiss the Kid and Proudinsky head a deep field of 13 horses entered in the Grade 2, $150,000 Dixie Stakes, one of seven stakes on Saturday's Preakness Day undercard at Pimlico.
Kiss the Kid, trained by Amy Tarrant, has won 3 of his last 4 starts, including the Grade 3 Appleton Handicap and the Fort Lauderdale Handicap at Gulfstream Park this year. Kiss the Kid will break from post 4 under Eibar Coa.
The combination of a surface switch and new equipment worked wonders for Barbaro's younger brother Wednesday afternoon at Delaware Park.
Racing on turf for the first time and adding blinkers to his equipment, the 3-year-old Nicanor romped to a 15 1/4-length victory in a maiden race.
The victory for the sibling of Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, came after he failed in three starts on dirt at Gulfstream Park.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Saturday is big for new owners with ambitious plans, beyond Jess Jackson acquisition Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness. Although California sprinters Dehere Again and Guns on the Table are eligible to a second-level allowance, both start for new owners in the Grade 3 Los Angeles Handicap at Hollywood Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - They'll try it again. One of the five races washed out last Friday at Churchill Downs, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares, is back on the drawing board a week later, once again occupying the feature slot on a twilight program.
Three of the six fillies from last week were rounded up for a reprisal, with Quick Notice and Nursery Rhyme still among the main players. This time, however, the $52,700 one-mile feature also drew Distinctive Dixie, runner-up in the April 8 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park in her last race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Marine Stakes has served as an important prep for the Queen's Plate, with horses such as Wando in 2003 and Victor Cooley in 1996 using the race as their final stepping-stone to Woodbine's $1 million showpiece for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
But the only Canadian-bred in this year's Marine, to be run Saturday, is Parabola. The 1 1/16-mile Marine is an open race for 3-year-olds.
MIAMI - Calvin Borel added his name to an exclusive list of jockeys who have won both the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby on the same weekend when he guided Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird to one-sided victories earlier this month at Churchill Downs. That list, which numbers seven, also includes first-year Calder steward Don Brumfield.
Brumfield posted his Oaks-Derby double 43 years ago, in 1966, when he captured the Oaks aboard Native Street and the Derby the following afternoon with Kauai King, who also went on to win the Preakness two weeks later.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Red Lead ran a big race to finish second to Mythical Power at 36-1 in the Grade 3, $400,000 Lone Star Derby last Saturday, and his connections are looking to give him a shot at another graded stakes down the road. Trainer Brandon Bridges said a goal is the Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs Sept. 19.
Red Lead was making just his third start in the Lone Star Derby, and he dueled with stakes winner Mayor Marv early, then held well late when overtaken in the stretch by the impressive Mythical Power.
BALTIMORE - Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird made a journey of nearly 10 hours from Louisville, Ky., to Baltimore in a horse trailer, and arrived just before 7 p.m. Tuesday at a racetrack he had never seen. Many horses would have an easy morning the following day, perhaps walking the shed row, grazing, and doing little else. Not Mine That Bird. He was up and at 'em and out to the track just before 7:30 on Wednesday morning, standing in the starting gate before galloping about 1 1/2 miles. So much for a light day.
The Maryland-based mare La Chica Rica reaffirmed her affinity for Mountaineer Racetrack when she captured the $75,000 Hancock County Handicap for the second straight year on Tuesday night.
Ridden by Deshawn Parker for trainer Crystal Pickett, the 6-year-old La Chica Rica ($3.40) opened up a five-length lead, then got a bit leg weary in deep stretch but still had enough to hold off late-charging Hadavision by 1 1/4 lengths. Ruffaroundtheedges finished third at 12-1.
