HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Explora and Search Party, who have won the first two Kentucky Oaks points races at Oaklawn Park, will meet March 27 in the track’s Grade 2, $1 million Fantasy.
Post positions were drawn for the 1 1/16 miles race after the Friday opener. A field of six was entered. A ceremonial draw was broadcast live on FOX and the simulcast feed from Oaklawn.
Explora drew post 6 and was made the even-money favorite following her victory in the local Grade 3, $750,000 Honeybee.
Santa Anita will race on Thursday, April 30 as a makeup for weather-related cancellations earlier this year.
The track has canceled racing seven times since Dec. 26 because of inclement weather, and has held four makeup days, a Monday in late December and two Thursdays in January. Two makeup days are scheduled next month – April 2 and 30.
The April 2 program is the start of a four-day racing week that includes the Santa Anita Derby program on April 4. The current winter-spring meeting ends on April 5.
Geovanni Franco, who has won seven races at Santa Anita and Turf Paradise this year, is relocating to Lone Star Park in Texas next month.
Franco is currently riding at Turf Paradise in Phoenix where through Thursday, he had four wins this month. Franco is booked to ride four stakes at Turf Paradise on Saturday.
The Lone Star Park meeting begins on April 16. Franco said he plans to ride at Oaklawn Park and Sunland Park in early April. Later this year, Franco said he will ride the Thoroughbred meeting at Remington Park.
Cherokee Nation and Potente, two of trainer Bob Baffert’s expected contenders in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, worked a half-mile in 48 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday.
Cherokee Nation, who worked three furlongs in 38.20 seconds on March 14, gained national attention with a 10-length win in a maiden race at a mile on Feb. 27 in his sixth start. Cherokee Nation was timed in 1:34.50 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Danny Gargan believes Snowyte was always cut out to be a stakes horse. He hopes her allowance victory last month at Gulfstream Park was the first step toward accomplishing that goal.
On March 29, Snowyte will return to stakes company for the first time since she finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2024 when she runs in the $175,000 Top Flight Stakes at Aqueduct.
Next, who dominated marathon dirt stakes in 2023-24, could be making a comeback.
Next, unraced since finishing last in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2024, worked three furlongs in 38.40 seconds on Feb. 28 at Turfway Park. Trainer Doug Cowans has been galloping the horse since but is likely to get him on a regular breeze schedule soon.
Astronomer, fourth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 24 in his best result this year, is a candidate for the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 2, provided he can gain a berth in what is likely to be a popular race.
The purse of the Turf Classic, run at 1 1/8 miles, has been increased by $500,000 to $1.5 million. The race will have a maximum field of 14, a concern for Simon Callaghan, who trains Astronomer for Alice Bamford and Michael Tabor.
Thought Process, an easy winner of the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile on turf on Feb. 28, will not start in the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on March 28, trainer Phil D’Amato said on Thursday.
D’Amato said the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on May 25 is the main goal this spring for the 4-year-old filly. D’Amato said Thought Process could start in the Grade 3 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on turf for fillies and mares on April 25.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will have a division of his 100-horse stable at Churchill Downs this spring.
Baffert is expected to have widespread participation in lucrative stakes during the week of the May 2 Kentucky Derby and have runners at the remainder of the Churchill Downs spring-summer meeting, which runs through June 28.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association and Chester Racecourse in England announced a partnership where two races run during Chester’s Boodles May Festival will serve as automatic qualifiers to a pair of stakes run during the first week of June at Saratoga.
The winner of the 13-furlong Ormonde Stakes, run May 7 at Chester, will earn an automatic berth – including entry, starter, and shipping fees – into the Grade 2, $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup, a two-mile turf race run June 4 at Saratoga.
