LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As trainer Brad Cox plots a summer course for his standout 3-year-olds, Essential Quality has been in steady training at Churchill “with the random day off,” said Cox, since the gray colt returned here from his June 5 victory in the Belmont Stakes.
Essential Quality has the Travers on Aug. 28 as his main goal and “would run in the Jim Dandy [on July 31] in case we feel like he should run before then,” Cox said. “He’s doing just great.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Unlike his colleagues a few miles away at Churchill Downs, Mike Maker isn’t currently faced with the inconvenience of pulling up stakes for the summer. Maker long has made the Trackside training center his primary base in non-winter months, and his stable is therefore unaffected by the upcoming turf-course overhaul that will force evacuation of the Churchill barn area for nine weeks, starting July 5.
Maryland racing officials now expect to race at Pimlico Race Course throughout most of August due to the need to conduct far more work than anticipated on the renovation of the main racing surface at Pimlico’s sister track, Laurel Park, the officials said Monday and Tuesday.
Last year’s leading rider and Sovereign Award winner Rafael Hernandez will be sidelined for three to five weeks after going down in a spill on Super Jade in Saturday’s nightcap, according to agent Tony Esposito.
“We thought he should have a check up, and they found a small fracture of the second vertebrae, I believe,” Esposito said. “It’s very minimal.”
Hernandez worked horses on Sunday morning before winning the second race on Kudura, his first of 10 mounts on the 13-race Sunday card.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The first invitation list for the Grade 2, $350,000 Princess Rooney Invitational, the marquee race of the Gulfstream Park spring-summer session, was released on Sunday with 14 filly and mare sprinters having been offered starting slots in the seven-furlong race. The lone Breeders’ Cup Challenge event on the local schedule, the Princess Rooney and the Grade 3, 200,000 Smile Sprint Invitational will highlight the July 3 Summit of Speed program.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tyler Gaffalione, once again the leading jockey at Churchill, escaped serious injury in the last race Sunday after being thrown from his mount, There Goes Harvard, when the 3-year-old colt stumbled about a furlong into the one-mile race on the main track.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sending his loyal backers home with a smile Saturday night wasn’t enough for Brendan Walsh. The 48-year-old Irish native followed up with three more winners Sunday afternoon at Churchill Downs, vaulting him into second place in the local standings while furthering his stature as a highly capable trainer.
Forza Di Oro, unraced since a victory in the Grade 3 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct last November, is working his way back to the races. On Sunday, he worked a half-mile in 49.38 seconds over the Belmont training track, his fourth workout of the year.
Following the Discovery, trainer Bill Mott was pointing Forza Di Oro to the Pegasus at Gulfstream in late January. The horse suffered a chip fracture in an ankle that needed to be surgically removed.
Du Jour, winner of the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, has been transferred from trainer Bob Baffert to Bill Mott and is pointing to the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on July 10.
Du Jour, a son of Temple City, is owned in partnership by Jill Baffert - Bob’s wife - and Debbie Lanni, the widow of former casino executive Terry Lanni.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Six weeks since returning from a three-month absence due to multiple surgeries, Jose Lezcano is flashing the form that made him the leading rider at the 2019 Belmont Park summer meet.
Despite going winless with five mounts Sunday, Lezcano has won 11 races from his last 27 mounts at Belmont and, with 20 victories from 122 mounts, he has risen into a tie for fifth in the jockey standings at this meet. Lezcano had a four-win day on Saturday. He also won four races on the June 6 card.
