OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Temperatures in the mid-60s on Tuesday in the New York area were not the only sign that spring is around the corner.
On Monday, a couple of 2-year-olds had their first recorded workouts at Belmont Park.
Diva Ready, a 2-year-old filly by More Than Ready, and Speak Unity, a 2-year-old colt by Union Rags, went three furlongs together in 38.22 seconds.
Both 2-year-olds are owned and bred by George Strawbridge and trained by Jonathan Thomas.
Stakes wins by Hit the Road and Brickyard Ride last Saturday have left their trainers thinking about Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
Hit the Road won his third consecutive stakes, and first Grade 1, in the Frank Kilroe Mile on turf against a strong field. Ridden by Florent Geroux, Hit the Road (4-1) stalked the pace and rallied on the rail to win by a neck over 5-2 favorite Smooth Like Strait, another multiple stakes-winning 4-year-old colt.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unable to find a suitable allowance race in New York, trainer Eddie Barker thought he had found a good alternative for his 3-year-old colt Return the Ring at Laurel Park – a first-level allowance race going six furlongs. But there is a quarantine in place at Laurel in the wake of a confirmed test for equine herpesvirus, and that will prevent Return the Ring from shipping to Maryland.
“It would have been the perfect race,” Barker said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – California-based trainer Richard Mandella will have a rare starter at Aqueduct on Saturday when he ships the 6-year-old mare Amuse cross-country to run in the $100,000 Correction Stakes.
Amuse will represent Mandella’s first starter at Aqueduct since Fare and Go finished fourth in a $25,000 claimer on Feb. 27, 2002. Mandella’s last starter on the New York Racing Association circuit was Beholder, who finished fourth in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps in June 2014.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Peter Walder considered running Cory Gal and Liza Star in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, but he feared one might cancel out the other.
“They’re both speed horses,” Walder said early this week, “and unless I can get a couple of riders to figure out how all that would work, I’ll probably just run one.”
Hurricane Bertie entries were to be drawn Wednesday afternoon, and by mid-morning, Walder had decided he most likely will saddle only Cory Gal in the $100,000 weekend highlight for filly-mare sprinters.
Rob D’Amico, a former FBI supervisory agent, has been hired by the parent company of Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park as its first chief security officer, the company, known as 1/ST, announced on Wednesday.
D’Amico, who most recently worked as the FBI’s legal attache to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, will “lead an integrated security team” at 1/ST, which was formerly known as The Stronach Group. The company’s assets include racetracks, a bet-processing company, and an account-wagering company, among other racing-related businesses.
Laurel Park in suburban Maryland has canceled its Friday card and put a quarantine on four barns after a horse on the grounds tested positive for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease, according to the track’s top racing official.
Sal Sinatra, director of racing for Laurel, said that the horse who tested positive has been sent to a clinic and no other horses on the grounds have displayed symptoms of the virus. But “18 or 19” horses that are now under quarantine had been entered for the Friday card, necessitating the Friday cancellation, Sinatra said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The unbeaten Concert Tour will break from post 7 in a field of eight when he makes his two-turn debut Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
The mile and a sixteenth race that was drawn Tuesday rewards its winner with 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby and anchors a 12-race card that features five stakes. First post is an earlier than usual 12 p.m. Central.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park on Tuesday announced plans to put an additional $2.5 million into overnight purses over the final eight weeks of the meet that closes May 1.
The move equates to a 15 percent purse increase and makes maiden special weight races worth $93,000; pushes high-end allowances to $110,000; and the bottom level purse value to $27,000.
It is the largest “mid-season” purse increase in the history of the track, according to a press release from Oaklawn.
The Arlington Million has a new name and a lower purse in 2021, which, as things currently stand, could be the last year of racing at Arlington International Racecourse.
The 2021 Arlington stakes schedule, which is listed in the first condition book, includes $2.275 million in stakes purses. The richest single race is the $600,000 Mister D Stakes, which formerly was the Arlington Million. The race is named for Arlington’s chairman emeritus, Richard Duchossois, who turns 100 in 2021.
