LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who was scheduled to ride Art Collector in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday before the colt was declared from consideration because of a minor injury, took off his mounts Tuesday at Churchill Downs after testing positive for COVID-19.
Hernandez said from his Louisville home that he tested positive on Monday, but that he also tested positive for the virus antibodies on Tuesday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tiz the Law, likely to be one of the heaviest Kentucky Derby favorites of the last half-century, was assigned post 17 in a field of 18 3-year-olds when entries were drawn Tuesday at Churchill Downs.
Longtime Churchill oddsmaker Mike Battaglia listed Tiz the Law as the 3-5 program favorite, followed by two rivals who drew to either side of him in the far outside gates, Honor A. P. (post 16, 5-1) and Authentic (post 18, 8-1).
As a young man in Venezuela, Juan Carlos Avila, like many Venezuelan youths, had designs on becoming a professional baseball player. He tried second base, third base, and then realized the whole enterprise was a dead end.
“I tried to make myself better; it didn’t work,” Avila said.
Jockey Ruben Fuentes has been suspended 11 racing days – from Saturday through Oct. 4 – for causing interference in races on Friday and Saturday at Del Mar.
During the time of the suspension, Fuentes will be restricted to riding graded stakes, which are exempt from routine suspensions in California.
:: DRF's Del Mar headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more
DEL MAR, Calif. – Veteran trainer Matt Chew is retiring in coming weeks.
Chew, 60, plans to have his last runner in Southern California at Del Mar on Monday’s closing day of the summer meeting and said Sunday that he will have a few more starters at Golden Gate Fields before disbanding his 10-horse stable.
:: DRF's Del Mar headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more
Dr. Schivel, expected to be favored in the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7, worked a quick half-mile in 47.20 seconds on Monday at Del Mar under trainer Luis Mendez.
Mendez often works his own horses at Del Mar this summer since jockeys are not permitted in the stables because of the coronavirus outbreak. Dr. Schivel had one of the fastest half-mile workouts Monday. Mendez said he was left impressed by Dr. Schivel’s stretch run in the workout.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Five horses suffered fatal injuries over a four-day period at Saratoga, including two on Monday who were injured while putting in a workout.
On Monday, Obsidian Flow, an unraced 2-year-old trained by Jimmy Jerkens, suffered an injury to his right foreleg after completing a workout out of the gate over the main track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Based on their 2019 campaigns, a lot was expected from Code of Honor and Performer in 2020. Little of it has materialized.
Code of Honor, last year’s Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, has gone 1 for 3 this year and is coming off a fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 1. Performer has not run since winning the Grade 3 Discovery on Nov. 20 at Aqueduct. He suffered an ankle injury that scrapped an anticipated return in the Grade 1 Carter in June.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer James Bond is enjoying his best Saratoga in nearly two decades, so there is no better time to take a swing at a Grade 1 stakes with a longshot. Saturday, Bond will do just that when he sends out Prioritize in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes.
Bond has won 10 races from 34 starters at this meet, his most wins at Saratoga since 2001, when he went 11 for 41. Four of his wins at this meet came with horses returning from an extended layoff owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bond was a part or sole owner of four of the 10 winners.
