LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wesley Ward celebrated the Easter holiday by riding a lawn mower for part of the day. Of course he did. Ward must have been punishing himself for failing to win either of the 2-year-old races on the opening-day Keeneland card Friday, when Dream Fly was second at 4-5 and Magniloquent was seventh at 7-5.
“Needed some alone time to do a little thinking, actually,” said Ward.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shortly after 1 p.m. last Friday, Santa Anita track announcer Frank Mirahmadi heard something during the running of the first race that had been missing for nearly 13 months during the coronavirus pandemic.
Below his position atop the stands, a small crowd rooted home the runners in the opening race, led by race winner So Much Happy.
“If there was ever the right name, I think it was fitting,” Mirahmadi reflected Sunday.
“I could hear it. It was such a nice feeling. You could hear a little bit of life out there. It’s been a sad situation.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Joe Orseno said his star turf sprinter Imprimis bled from the nostrils when beaten just a nose Saturday by Bound for Nowhere in the Grade 2 Shakertown and blasted the new Keeneland policy that bans usage of the bleeder medication Lasix in stakes races during a post-race interview.
“They’re taking the best horses in the country and they’re penalizing them,” said Orseno, who won his first race in 1977. “My horse bled today, visibly, blood coming out of his nose. How is that good for the public’s perception? It’s just not fair.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mystic Guide, the 3 3/4-length winner of the March 27 Dubai World Cup, returned to the Mike Stidham shed row at Keeneland over the weekend after clearing quarantine following his return flight from overseas.
“He came back really well,” Stidham said early Monday. “He’ll stay with me here until the end of the meet, and then we’ll take him back to Fair Hill,” the northern Maryland training center where Stidham has his primary year-round base.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Joel Rosario and Luis Saez dominated the first two cards of the Keeneland spring meet that opened last weekend, but they’ll have to make room for another superstar in the jockeys’ room – at least for this week.
Irad Ortiz Jr., fresh from a six-win Saturday at Aqueduct, will ride Wednesday through Sunday at Keeneland in what is expected to be his only action here during a 15-day meet that runs through April 23. Ortiz will return to the state at some point late this month for Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs in Louisville, according to agent Steve Rushing.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Rock Your World, winner of the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, will be trainer John Sadler’s fifth starter in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 1, and the first in seven years.
In 2014, Candy Boy finished third behind California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby. A month later, Candy Boy had a troubled trip to finish 13th behind that colt in the Kentucky Derby.
California Chrome raced in a stalking position in those wins. Rock Your World may have the same kind of prominent trip in the Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles.
Modernist came out of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes “good, happy,” according to Leana Willaford, assistant to trainer Bill Mott.
After a slow break, Modernist was part of a contested, albeit slow, pace. He took the lead in upper stretch and then, after switching leads at the sixteenth pole, ran away from Haikal to win by 2 1/2 lengths. He earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - While she may not have faced the division’s best in winning Saturday’s Grade 3, Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct, Search Results got the right type of race to make her a contender for the Kentucky Oaks on April 30, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Saffie Joseph Jr. hopes Saturday’s three-win day at Aqueduct is just the start of a big year for his stable in New York.
The highlight of Joseph’s afternoon was Mischevious Alex winning the Grade 1 Carter Handicap by 5 1/2 lengths. It was the first Grade 1 win for the colt and the second career Grade 1 victory for Joseph, who in 2019 won the Pennsylvania Derby with Math Wizard. Mischevious Alex earned a 109 Beyer Speed Figure for his Carter victory, his third straight win.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Essential Quality, the reigning divisional champion who remained unbeaten in five career starts with a neck victory Saturday over Highly Motivated in the 97th Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, exited the Grade 2 race in fine shape and will ship Monday to Churchill Downs, trainer Brad Cox said Sunday morning.
“He looks good this morning and I am happy with the way he came out of the race,” Cox said.
