Woodbine Entertainment and the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement in principle on a new two-year deal that boosts purses by $5.7 million. The new agreement commits $64.7 million in purses in 2025 and $65 million in 2026, both with 128-day race meets.
The 2025 meet begins Saturday, April 26, and concludes on Sunday, Dec. 14.
Kerry Hohlbein, a former rider now working as a trainer at Laurel Park, missed out on her first stakes victory by a nose earlier this month when S S Sinatra lost a photo finish in the $75,000 Not For Love Stakes. She’s confident that more opportunities will come, however.
“He ran a great race and I’m not upset that he just got beat like that,” Hohlbein said of the 5-year-old gelding. “It would have been nice to win, but he ran great.”
When Peter Eurton walked into the winner’s circle after Spun Not Stirred won a $32,000 claiming race for maidens last Sunday, it was the stable’s fourth win in a little more than a week at Santa Anita.
Eurton missed most of it. He spent time in mid-March overseeing his Midwest stable, which has grown lately to include runners at Turfway Park in Kentucky and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.
The stakes-winning sprinter Roll On Big Joe was deliberately held out of Saturday’s San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita in favor of a stakes in Arkansas later this spring, trainer Bob Hess, Jr. said.
Hess wrote in a text message on Wednesday that Roll On Big Joe is scheduled to have his next start in the $200,000 Lake Hamilton Stakes at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on May 2.
Roll On Big Joe is unbeaten in two starts this year at Santa Anita – an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 3, and a four-length win in the Grade 3 Palos Verdes Stakes at six furlongs on Feb. 15.
Thorpedo Anna, the reigning Horse of the Year, and Mystik Dan, the winner of last year’s Kentucky Derby, will be spending the next several weeks at Oaklawn, trainer Kenny McPeek said Tuesday. The horses had been based at Fair Grounds, which wrapped up its meet Sunday.
Thorpedo Anna is being pointed for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap at 1 1/16 miles April 12 at Oaklawn. Mystik Dan is owned by a partnership based in Arkansas.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Frank Fletcher will be chasing a more than 25 year old dream Saturday when he runs Bestfriend Rocket in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.
Bestfriend Rocket is a three-time winner who will be making his stakes debut off a gusty allowance win for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas on March 2. Fletcher purchased the horse as a 2-year-old in training last April, giving $575,000 for the son of Curlin who is from the female family of Tapit.
Trainers Jamie Ness and Brittany Russell are separated by one victory entering the final weekend of the winter meet at Laurel Park, ensuring a tight finish in the race for the training title. Ness entered 14 horses for the final three days and has an obvious edge, but Russell has made the most of her starters all meet and has a chance to run the table with her four entrants.
Yedsit Hazlewood, a 17-year-old apprentice jockey, is settling into Laurel Park with the help of trainer Jose Corrales. Last weekend, the young rider earned his first five mounts from Corrales and finished third in his debut on Friday, March 21.
Hazlewood has been riding horses in Panama since he was 12 and has always dreamed of becoming a jockey. His brother, Angel A. Rodriguez, also is a jockey and has made nearly 2,000 starts in the United States.
“My brother is an idol to me,” Hazlewood said through Corrales. “Ever since I was little, I’ve loved the horses.”
Render Judgment is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass on April 5 at Keeneland, trainer Kenny McPeek said.
The son of Blame is one of two prospects McPeek currently has in play for the Kentucky Derby, a race he won last year with Mystik Dan. The other is Maximum Promise, who was third in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks last Saturday at Turfway Park.
“I think that’s about where we’re at,” McPeek said.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A stall toy gave trainer Lonnie Briley a tip-off about how to proceed with Coal Battle on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
Briley has been closely monitoring the Rebel winner, to see if he should run him back in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday or just train up to the Kentucky Derby. He said last week that Coal Battle gave him a clear sign to enter the Arkansas Derby.
“I thought he was going to rip his ball off the wall yesterday, playing with it,” Briley said. “He’s jumping out of his skin. He’s feeling so good right now.”
