Trainer Ray Handal is in the enviable position of having multiple maiden-winning 3-year-old fillies for whom to find spots. On Sunday, Just Read It won a maiden race by 6 1/4 lengths. She had been working several times with Dealing Justice, who won her maiden Jan. 10 and is scheduled to run in Sunday’s $100,000 Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Aqueduct.
Capo Kane will look to validate his upset victory in last month’s Jerome Stakes and prove himself worthy of being considered a Kentucky Derby candidate when he meets eight rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Withers, as did the Jerome, offers its winner 10 qualifying points to the May 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
The Jerome, run on New Year’s Day, was a one-turn mile. The Withers is run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns. Capo Kane did handle two turns in his maiden win going a mile and 70 yards at Parx Racing last November.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Man in the Can, who rose to the top of the Arkansas-bred ranks last meet at Oaklawn with his wins in the Rainbow Stakes and Arkansas Breeders Championship, is back at Oaklawn and has two stakes objectives this season, according to trainer Ron Moquett.
Moquett said Man in the Can’s first stakes goal is the $150,000 Nodouble over six furlongs March 27. His other objective is defense of his title in the $200,000 Arkansas Breeders Championship over 1 1/16 miles on April 30.
Hello Hot Rod emerged from his victory in last Sunday’s Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct in good order, according to trainer Brittany Russell.
“He looks fantastic,” Russell said Tuesday morning. “To be fair, he doesn’t even act like he raced or shipped or anything. He’s just a neat horse.”
Hello Hot Rod might be pointed to the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at one mile on March 6 but also was a late supplement to Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky mixed auction. He is listed as Hip No. 672 and is consigned by Elite Sales.
Trainer David Walters saddled his 1,500th career winner when Urkillingmebeth captured the eighth race at Charles Town on Jan. 13. Walters earned his first victory on July 1, 1979, and has been a mainstay on the Charles Town circuit.
Walters-trained runners have earned $14,447,219. He has won the Sadie Hawkins Stakes six times. His classy mare Carnival Chrome took four consecutive editions of the race between 2005 and 2008. Carnival Chrome won 10 of 16 starts for lifetime earnings of $488,688.
Harpers First Ride has settled in at Oaklawn Park for new trainer Robertino Diodoro after finishing last of 12 in the Grade 1, $3,000,000 Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream.
Harpers First Ride was purchased privately by the partnership of GMP Stables, Arnold Bennewith, and Cypress Creek Equine prior to the Pegasus. The 6-year-old gelding won 7 of 11 starts last year for trainer Claudio Gonzalez, with his signature victory coming in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special.
ARCADIA, Calif. – An unspecified injury derailed Grade 1 winner Varda, who will miss this spring’s major 3-year-old filly races, trainer Bob Baffert said this week.
Varda, 17-1 upset winner of the Grade 1 Starlet on Dec. 5 at Los Alamitos, resumed workouts in late December and could have run Saturday in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita. But after working five furlongs Jan. 22 at Santa Anita, Varda was not nominated to the Las Virgenes. Baffert was not specific regarding the setback.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Letruska is heading home to South Florida following her win in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Sunday at Sam Houston Race Park, but plans are to return to this region, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said Tuesday.
Letruska is being pointed for the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn. The mile and a sixteenth race will be run March 13. Letruska is based at Palm Meadows, a training center in South Florida.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Keepmeinmind put in a significant work on Tuesday at Oaklawn Park as he continues preparations for the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes on Feb. 15.
The race will be his first start since he won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club on Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.
Keepmeinmind worked over a fast track after the second renovation break Tuesday, on a sunny morning that reached 40 degrees. Keepmeinmind breezed five furlongs by himself, covering the distance in a bullet 59 seconds. Jockey David Cohen was aboard.
Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., plans to run its full complement of spring stakes this year, according to a schedule distributed by the track on Tuesday, but several of the track’s most high-profile races will take purse cuts due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations.
