Flavien Prat is a man in demand. He won the Preakness aboard Rombauer, but he also rides Hot Rod Charlie, who crossed the wire third in the Kentucky Derby, and there is the strong likelihood he will be on Hot Rod Charlie if, as currently planned, both go in the Belmont Stakes on June 5.
“We have Prat. Grateful to have him,” said Doug O’Neill, who trains Hot Rod Charlie.
After Sunday’s ceremony for the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award at Santa Anita, honorees Deshawn Parker and Luis Quinones returned to their Midwest homes.
Parker, honored as the 2021 recipient, was back riding at Indiana Grand, where he had a winner on Tuesday. Quinones, the 2020 recipient, resumed physical therapy with the hope of a return to riding in early 2022, more than 18 mounts after being injured in a spill.
“I broke both hips, my pelvis, five vertebrae,” Quinones said on Sunday. “Everything is pretty good except the vertebrae.”
This could be a record-breaking spring for California jockey Flavien Prat, depending somewhat on his travel plans.
Through Sunday, Prat had 102 wins at the winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita, within striking range of the all-time record of 138 wins for the season set by Laffit Pincay, Jr., in 1970-71. Prat, who has repeatedly produced numerous winners on a single program this year, has 16 days of racing remaining at Santa Anita before the season concludes on June 20.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Trackside training annex near Churchill Downs is quiet, just like the trainer whose stable nearly overruns the place. Mike Maker has always preferred that his horses do the talking for him, just as they did last weekend 600 miles away at Pimlico.
“Sure was,” Maker said with typical brevity when it was mentioned how awesome his Preakness weekend was.
The Texas Racing Commission on Tuesday approved the transfer of Retama Park’s meet for Quarter Horses to Sam Houston Race Park, according to an announcement by Sam Houston.
The 20-date meet will begin June 23 and continue through Aug. 7. Post time will be 6:45 p.m. Central.
The transfer was made because of damage Retama Park near San Antonio sustained to its grandstand, barn area, and racing office in a February ice storm, according to a press release from Sam Houston. The facility is undergoing repairs, by they will not be completed in time to conduct a meet.
Total viewership of the NBC broadcast of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course late on Saturday afternoon averaged seven million viewers, according to the broadcast network, a significant gain over the viewership number for the last time the race was held in its traditional slot, in 2019.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will be barred from entering and stabling horses at New York Racing Association tracks indefinitely, the company announced Monday afternoon.
The length of NYRA’s ban will be determined by additional information that comes out of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s investigation into the positive test of Medina Spirit after he finished first in the Kentucky Derby on May 1, according to a press release issued by NYRA on Monday afternoon.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sainthood, 11th in the Kentucky Derby, worked a half-mile in 49.09 seconds on the Belmont Park turf course Sunday morning. The work may have earned him a start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Pennine Ridge on turf here May 29.
“I thought he went very well on it,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He certainly worked good enough to put the Pennine Ridge in play.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – It took longer than trainer Shug McGaughey would have liked, but Dreams of Tomorrow finally delivered a big performance Saturday at Belmont Park, winning a first-level allowance by 4 1/4 lengths.
Dreams of Tomorrow, a son of Speightstown, ran a mile over firm ground in 1:32.10 and earned a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
“Pretty impressive,” McGaughey said. “He finally ran the way we thought he could run. I think the blinkers off helped him settle more. With the blinkers, he was a little more aggressive.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – An updated claiming rule will go into effect with the start of the next condition book on May 28, automatically voiding a claim if the horse in question is observed to have bled or is declared unsound on examination by the track veterinarian within 30 minutes after the race. A successful claimant does have the option to request that a voided claim still be allowed within 15 minutes of the track veterinarian’s notification to the stewards.
