ARCADIA, Calif. - The Pamplemousse threw down the gauntlet Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, where a blazing three-furlong work by the dark gray front-runner left no doubt regarding his weekend intentions.
The Pamplemousse and jockey Alex Solis will go straight to the front Saturday in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, a nine-furlong race they will try to steal from Pioneerof the Nile and Chocolate Candy. All three worked Tuesday, and The Pamplemousse was fastest.
The Ohio Derby, a Grade 2, $300,000 race at Thistledown, will not be run this year, the track announced Tuesday.
"For the 2009 season, we agreed with the Thistledown horsemen to suspend the Ohio Derby for one year," said Brent Reitz, vice president and general manager of Thistledown, which is owned by Magna Entertainment Corp. "It's a decision that will help secure a solid purse structure and maintain a good, full season of racing opportunities to benefit the horseman who will race with us the entire season."
All four major national account-wagering companies will be able to offer their customers the ability to wager on the races from Keeneland Racecourse for the first time during the spring meet, which starts on Friday, Keeneland officials said Tuesday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The wickedly fast victory Sunday by undefeated 3-year-old filly Carlsbad in the Grade 3 Santa Paula Stakes did not go unnoticed by potential buyers. The questions now - how high will the offers go, and how far will the filly run?
Owned by Dennis Weir and trained by Jeff Mullins, Carlsbad raced gate to wire in 1:14.65, the second-fastest time of the meet for 6 1/2 furlongs, and earned a huge 103 Beyer Speed Figure.
"They're getting pretty strong offers on her," Mullins said. "There are people trying to buy her thinking they'll run in the Kentucky Oaks."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Frank Lucarelli was watching a national telecast of a Major League Baseball game in the 1980s when he suddenly sat up. Dale Mohorcic, one of Lucarelli's old teammates from a minor league team in Victoria, British Columbia, was entering the game as a relief pitcher.
"I couldn't believe it," Lucarelli said. "He had made it to the major leagues."
This spring could produce Lucarelli's appearance in racing's major leagues. Lucarelli trains Gallant Son, a starter in Saturday's Santa Anita Derby, and a colt with an outside chance of making the Kentucky Derby.
STICKNEY, Ill. - If Perfect Song comes anywhere close to duplicating the performance of trainer Mike Trombetta's last Illinois Derby winner, Sweetnorthernsaint, the colt's stakes debut on Saturday at Hawthorne will almost certainly be a success.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Proud Spell will miss the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Saturday after her trainer, Larry Jones, discovered some swelling in her left hind ankle Monday night. She had been scheduled to have a key work for the race Tuesday morning, but instead was being prepared to ship later in the day to Jones's barn at Keeneland.
"We're hoping it's just an infection in there," Jones said. "She's got a little bit of a mark on her. Like I said, we're hoping it's just an infection because it's come up all at once.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Chilly and wet weather notwithstanding, springtime in Kentucky pretty much became official Tuesday when entries for opening day at the Keeneland spring meet were released.
The 10-race Friday opener is anchored by the $150,000 Transylvania Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race that features the kind of melting-pot look that will typify the 15-day meet to its April 24 conclusion. Recent arrivals from Gulfstream Park, Fair Grounds, and Santa Anita form the core of the Transylvania, the first of 17 stakes at the meet.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Proud Spell is out of the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Saturday after her trainer, Larry Jones, discovered some swelling in her left hind ankle Monday night. She had been scheduled to have a key work for the race Tuesday morning, but instead will ship to Jones's barn at Keeneland.
"We're hoping it's just an infection in there," he said Tuesday morning. "She's got a little bit of a mark on her. Like I said, we're hoping it's just an infection because it's come up all at once.
HOT SPRING, Ark. - Old Fashioned continued his preparations for the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Tuesday morning, by breezing five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Oaklawn Park. It was his first work since finishing second to Win Willy in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes on March 14.