HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The Apple Blossom, Oaklawn Handicap, and Arkansas Derby tend to get most of the attention during the Racing Festival of the South, but one race that is coming up gangbusters is the Grade 2, $250,000 Fantasy, which will be run here April 15.
The Fantasy, which had its purse increased this year by $50,000, is a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - With Northern outfits clearing out of town in droves and the major stakes done for the season, turf races of all distances and class denominations will likely dominate the final two and a half weeks of the 2005 Gulfstream Park meet. Such will be the case Thursday, with a trio of five-furlong dashes for entry-level allowance runners on the card.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - It can be a sign of good things to come when a horse has to do something different and still runs a big race.
had that experience in her last race and may be the one to beat when she returns to action against four rivals in Thursday's Bay Meadows feature, a six-furlong, first-level allowance race for 3-year-old fillies.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Ashado is good to go. Last year's champion 3-year-old filly breezed five furlongs at Keeneland on Monday in her final major preparation for Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.
A 1 1/16-mile race, the Apple Blossom will be the first start of the year for Ashado, who has been assigned top weight of 121 pounds. In her last start, Ashado won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rockport Harbor walked the shedrow on Monday, one day after being found to have a blood clot in his neck that has made his status day-to-day for the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn April 16.
If he cannot make the 1 1/8-mile race, he will target the Grade 2, $325,000 Coolmore Lexington at 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland on April 23.
Rockport Harbor first missed training last Saturday, and is not scheduled to go back to the track until Wednesday. His health was progressing as of Monday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Pace, please. That is what Boomboomgirl needs on Wednesday in the featured ninth race at Oaklawn Park, a 1 1/16-mile allowance for fillies and mares, with a $36,000 purse.
Those in the eight-horse field that could help set honest fractions include Tika's Best, Golddigger Beware, and Teller Line.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Galloping Grocer is staying home. After considering a trip to Hawthorne Race Course for the Illinois Derby, trainer Dominick Schettino said Monday morning that Galloping Grocer, who is based at Belmont Park, would remain in New York for Saturday's $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct.
"He ran big last year in the Remsen on the outer track at this distance," said Schettino, referring to Galloping Grocer's runner-up finish to Rockport Harbor last November, for which he received a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. - This is the week for 3-year-olds to shine in trainer Julio Canani's Santa Anita stable.
Wednesday, Canani starts the impeccably bred Wooden Ticket in a $52,000 allowance race over a mile. Saturday, he runs Sweet Catomine against males in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby and Shining Energy in the $100,000 Providencia Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
is not as accomplished as his stablemates. He has made only one start, winning a seven-furlong maiden race. Wednesday's race gives the colt a chance to prove he is worth following in coming months.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When Singletary, the 2004 Breeders' Cup Mile winner, arrived in the paddock for the Frank Kilroe Mile on March 5, trainer Don Chatlos was stunned by what he saw.
As he looked through the saddling area, Chatlos observed that Singletary, making his first start of the year, looked out of shape compared to several others in the race.
"Sweet Return, Buckland Manor, and Leroidesanimaux were all tucked up and my horse had his belly swinging like he was pregnant," Chatlos said. "I was counting on everyone missing as much training as I had."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Nick Zito came to Gulfstream Park this winter with one legitimate Kentucky Derby candidate, Sun King, and a number of young horses with promise. He left Sunday morning with five Kentucky Derby contenders and the Florida Derby trophy in his suitcase.
