ARCADIA, Calif. – California-bred gelding The Chosen Vron, a two-time stakes winner and the top 3-year-old sprinter in California, will stretch to a route for the first time in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita.
“I’ve got to see if you can stretch out,” trainer Eric Kruljac said early this week at Santa Anita. “I’m cautiously optimistic.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - With Ontario entering Step 1 of the “Roadmap to Reopen” plan earlier than expected, on Friday, Woodbine Entertainment announced Monday that the 2021 Thoroughbred meet begins this Saturday with a 1:20 p.m. post time.
The meet will continue Sunday with a 1:20 p.m. post, followed by racing June 18-20. After that, the meet goes to its usual Thursday through Sunday schedule. To help make up for some lost racing days, Woodbine plans to add races to its cards during the first two weekends of racing.
LOUISVILLE, KY. – Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality was scheduled to return early Tuesday to the Brad Cox barn at Churchill, just as Mandaloun was preparing to leave for the East Coast.
Mandaloun, the Juddmonte Farms homebred who as the Kentucky Derby runner-up stands to be declared the official winner if Medina Spirit is disqualified for a medication positive, was scheduled to be vanned Wednesday to Monmouth Park in New Jersey, where he’ll run Sunday in the Pegasus Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Michelle Lovell was exhausted Monday morning, but what else is new? It’s a chronic state for Thoroughbred trainers who tend to work morning, noon, and night.
“I’m tired, but I’m still excited,” said Lovell. “It’s a good thing.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. predicted before Saturday’s Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park that his top 3-year-old sprinter Drain the Clock was sitting on his best race yet. What he wasn’t sure of was whether that would still be good enough to defeat a premier field that included the odds-on favorite Jackie’s Warrior.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Althiqa and Summer Romance, who finished 1-2 in Saturday’s Grade 1 Just a Game for trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin Racing, will remain in the U.S. and point to the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga on July 17, Appleby said Monday.
Meanwhile, Rebel’s Romance and Desert Peace were scheduled to ship back to Newmarket on Wednesday and will be given a break and be part of Appleby’s Dubai Racing Carnival team for 2022.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., is adding December dates to its calendar as part of an expanded 66-date meet for this coming season, the track announced Monday. Oaklawn is scheduled to open on Dec. 3 and race through May 8, 2022.
The meet will be conducted on a Friday-through-Sunday basis most weeks, with a special Monday card to be held for Presidents Day on Feb. 21. There will be no racing from Dec. 24-26 in observance of Christmas and on April 17 in observance of Easter.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The 20-cent Rainbow pick six paid $4,649 to 555 ticketholders at Santa Anita on Sunday on a program with a mandatory payout promotion.
The pool began with a carryover of $411,484 from Saturday. Bettors added $2,838,921 on Sunday.
The pick six was conducted on the fourth through ninth races. The winners were V Bucks ($17.20), Cinnte Winnte ($4), Harpers Gallop ($19), Whatmakessammyrun ($3.60), Box of Chocolates ($7.20), and Freedom Flyer ($10).
Hit the Road, briefly sidelined by a muscle strain earlier this spring, has resumed training for an expected start at the Del Mar summer meeting.
Hit the Road won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita on March 6 and was fifth in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland on April 9. Trainer Dan Blacker said Sunday that Hit the Road has progressed in recent weeks for a return to racing as early as next month.
“We’ll get back on the work tab soon,” Blacker said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The five-time stakes winner Fashionably Fast worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday in advance of a scheduled start in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes for California-breds at six furlongs on Saturday.
A 6-year-old gelding, Fashionably Fast won the Tiznow Stakes for statebreds at a mile in February and has been third in his last two starts, both against open company – the Santana Mile on March 28 and an allowance race on April 24.
