HENDERSON, Ky. – Mr. Wireless will be pointed to the $500,000 West Virginia Derby on Aug. 7 at Mountaineer Park following his breakthrough victory Wednesday in the Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand.
“I call it the Mr. Money route,” said trainer Bret Calhoun, who has left a string of horses at Ellis Park with his longtime assistant Dennis “Peaches” Geier. “It’s good timing, a good purse, a good next spot.”
Knicks Go will make his next start in the $1 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 7 at Saratoga and may have the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a late-season goal in 2021.
Trainer Brad Cox said Thursday that Knicks Go had come out of his powerhouse win July 2 in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap in excellent condition, and now the horse’s connections are looking toward the second half of the season.
“He’s going to train at Ellis Park,” Cox said. “Looks very good out of the race. Went back to the track, galloping, seems fantastic.”
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke is coming home. The personable 26-year-old will return from Kentucky next week to restart his California career at the Del Mar summer meet, which begins next Friday.
The 2014 Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s outstanding apprentice and the leader at the 2018 Del Mar summer and fall meets, Van Dyke spent this spring and early summer on the Kentucky circuit. From late March through early July, Van Dyke won nine races from 100 mounts.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington will be open at full capacity for its upcoming fall meet in October, the track announced on Thursday.
The announcement, which was not unexpected given that Kentucky no longer has pandemic-related restrictions in place, will be welcome news to Kentucky racing fans, who have not been able to attend a Keeneland meet without restrictions since the fall of 2019. The fall meet is scheduled to run from Oct. 8-30 this year.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Dayoutoftheoffice was under consideration for the Victory Ride on Saturday here, but was not entered and instead will train up to the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga on Aug. 7.
In two starts this year, Dayoutoftheoffice was second to Obligatory in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill and fourth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Search Results in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont on June 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The unbeaten Louisiana-bred Australasia will put her 6-for-6 mark on the line in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on dirt at 6 1/2 furlongs.
:: Get Mike Beer and David Aragona’s Betting Strategies for Saturday’s card at Belmont Park
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is the leader in the clubhouse entering the final three days of the Belmont Park spring/summer meeting, but his spot atop the jockey standings is tenuous given he will miss the final week.
:: Enhance your handicapping with DRF’s Belmont Park Clocker Report
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Irish-based trainer Aidan O’Brien has been a big supporter of the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks, two rich Grade 1 races for 3-year-olds at Belmont Park, often sending more than one horse to participate in each race.
This year, however, O’Brien will have just one in each. That may be all he needs.
:: Enhance your handicapping with DRF’s Belmont Park Clocker Report
Trainer Frank Lucarelli, who moved a division of horses to Texas in January, will continue to have a presence in the region for the foreseeable future.
He said Tuesday he will be moving horses to Remington Park in Oklahoma following the close of the Lone Star Park meet Sunday, and also anticipates having a small string at the Oaklawn meet in Arkansas that opens Dec. 3.
