LEXINGTON, Ky. - In any other barn, Peace Rules would be the star. But since Peace Rules is trained by Bobby Frankel, who has the current Kentucky Derby favorite in Empire Maker, Peace Rules has been overlooked, and underappreciated.
Empire Maker's performance in the Florida Derby was one of the most impressive races this spring by any 3-year-old. Prior to that, however, he had won just once in three starts, against maidens.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - It's time to step up. For many of the 12 entrants in Saturday's Grade 2 Arkansas Derby, the race is a final chance to earn a berth in the Kentucky Derby.
Unlike the Wood and Blue Grass, races that have drawn a number of horses who are already heading to the Kentucky Derby, most of the owners and trainers who have runners in the Arkansas Derby are looking for their charges to give them a reason to head to Louisville.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Beau's Town, whose connections would like to see him develop into a candidate for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, won his third stakes race in as many starts this year when he held off a stiff bid from Honor Me to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap by a half-length at Oaklawn Park Thursday.
It was four lengths back in third to Sand Ridge.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - My Boston Gal won twice at Churchill Downs last year, which understandably caused trainer Carl Nafzger to point her this spring to the Kentucky Oaks. But after two losses to start the year in Florida, My Boston Gal was faced with a critical test in Thursday's $250,000 Stonerside Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland.
"She had to step up," Nafzger said.
She did. My Boston Gal made a brazen run at the lead from between horses on the far turn, then out-battled pacesetter Bird Town through the stretch to win the Beaumont and earn a berth in the May 2 Oaks.
Michael Gill has filed a lawsuit claiming that trainers and officials at Delaware Park have conspired to bar his horses from the track this year.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a federal court in New Hampshire, where Gill lives, charges that Delaware Park's racing secretary, Sam Abbey, and the track's owner, Bill Rickman, exploited complaints made by trainers about Gill's claiming practices to restrict competition at the track by barring him from its races. The suit asks the court to lift the ban and to award damages.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The plane ticket was purchased. The hotel had been reserved. Ken Ramsey was going to go to Oaklawn Park to watch Ten Cents a Shine in the Arkansas Derby on Saturday, while his wife, Sarah, was going to remain here at Keeneland to see their colt Badge of Silver in the Blue Grass Stakes.
But then D. Wayne Lukas, who trains Ten Cents a Shine, called.
Lukas, said Ken Ramsey, "gave me a 15-minute dissertation on why we should run in the Blue Grass instead of the Arkansas Derby."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Hennig had one of the top 3-year-old sprinters last year in Gygistar. He could have another 3-year-old sprint star in the making in Halo Homewrecker, who makes his stakes debut in Saturday's $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Grade 3 Bay Shore, which is overshadowed by the Wood Memorial and Carter Handicap, may be the best betting race on Aqueduct's 10-race card. A field of 11 3-year-olds was entered.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - All eyes will be on Empire Maker in Saturday's Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, but the best race on the card may be the one that follows, the $350,000 Carter Handicap.
Four of the five Carter starters are Grade 1 winners. The probable favorite is the Bob Baffert-trained Congaree, who won the 2001 Wood Memorial and 2002 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.
CINCINNATI, Ohio - River Downs begins its 78th season of racing Saturday afternoon. This year marks the return of the 7 & 7 alternating-race format with Thistledown after a one-year absence.
The 122-day meeting runs through Sept. 1, with racing scheduled six days a week with Wednesdays dark.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Trainer Ralph Martinez saddled six winners and a second-place finisher from nine starters Wednesday night at Fairmount Park. All are owned by Louis O'Brien.
Martinez's winners were split evenly between jockeys Jesse Wheat Jr. and Luis Espinosa. Wheat won the first aboard I Take the Cinco ($9.20), the fourth with Ellen's Souvenir ($3.60), and the ninth with Barnwell ($8.60). Espinosa won with Legend Has It ($7) in the third, Kissin It Away ($4.80) in the seventh, and Movin to the Music ($18.80) in the eighth. Pitati ran second in the sixth race for Martinez.
