HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park will move into the most significant - as well as the final - portion of its meet next Saturday when it opens the annual Racing Festival of the South stakes program with the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom and the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap.
The races are two of nine stakes worth a cumulative $2.8 million to be run over the final week of the meet, which closes on April 11 with the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Regardless of what happens during the final three weeks of Gulfstream Park's season, it has already been a great meet for Ken McPeek, who entered Saturday's program deadlocked with perennial champion Todd Pletcher for the top spot in the trainer standings with 25 wins each.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Justwhistledixie answered the distance question and cleared the final hurdle en route to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Oaks on May 1 with a 1 3/4-length victory over Casanova Move in Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Bonnie Miss at Gulfstream Park.
Justwhistledixie, the surprising 5-2 favorite in the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager, benefitted from a perfectly judged ride by jockey Julien Leparoux in the 1 1/8-mile Bonnie Miss. Leparoux replaced Justwhistledixie's regular rider, Alan Garcia, who is in Dubai.
Philadelphia Park has done very little tinkering with its stakes schedule for 2009.
The Bensalem, Pa., track has retained all 11 of its major open stakes at the exact purse levels from 2008. That list is headed by the Gradeo2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Labor Day and the Grade 2, $750,000 Fitz Dixon Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies on Oct. 3.
The remaining nine stakes for open company are worth between $200,000 and $250,000.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Wood Memorial lost its primary speed horse when the connections of Mr. Fantasy said they would bypass the Grade 1 race, to be run at Aqueduct next Saturday, adding that the 3-year-old colt would not be pointed to the Kentucky Derby.
A plane carrying 10 horses from Southern California for the two major stakes Sunday at Sunland Park arrived in El Paso, Texas, early Thursday morning. There were seven horses on the flight for the $800,000 Sunland Park Derby and three fillies for the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The races are part of a five-stakes card that will make for the richest program of the meet at the New Mexico track, located 10 minutes from El Paso.
The plane touched down at 8 a.m., said Heath Battles, marketing director for Sunland.
Lane's End Farm has dropped its sponsorship of the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland Race Course, ending 12 years of being the title sponsor of the Grade 1 race for 2-year-olds.
The Breeders' Futurity is run on the first Saturday in October. A Grade 1 race since 2004, its purse was $500,000 last year when Square Eddie prevailed. The 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race often serves as a major prep for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, serving last year as a Win and You're In race, with victory guaranteeing a BC berth.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association will produce five one-hour television shows during the course of the Saratoga racing season that will air on MSG-Plus, a regional network that is available on satellite outlets. The programs will offer live coverage of the graded stakes races to be run on five of the six Saturdays of the meet. The lone exception is Travers Day (Aug. 29), as the Travers will be covered by ESPN.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Way back in June, Triumphant Flight won his debut at Hollywood Park in a five-furlong maiden race for statebreds.
It is that performance that gives trainer Eric Kruljac confidence that Triumphant Flight can run well in Saturday's $70,000 San Miguel Stakes at Santa Anita. The San Miguel, run over six furlongs for 3-year-olds, will be Triumphant Flight's first start since a second-place finish in the California Cup Juvenile here last October.
Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., has boosted the purse of its richest race, the Grade 2 Super Derby, from $500,000 to $750,000 in the most significant change to its 34-race stakes schedule, worth more than $3.3 million. The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds will be run on Sept. 19.