Thu, 03/12/2020 - 13:50

Charlatan, Great Power looking to step forward in allowance

Emily Shields
Great Power, an impressive maiden winner last September, makes his first start of 2020 on Saturday.

Charlatan and Great Power, two of the best-regarded 3-year-olds in Southern California, both got late starts toward the Kentucky Derby, but will try to quickly move forward on Saturday when they race in a one-mile allowance at Santa Anita designed to propel them toward a significant Derby prep in April.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 17:00

Charlatan entered in two-turn allowance Saturday

Emily Shields
Charlatan will stretch out from six furlongs to a mile in his second career start.

Charlatan, a dazzling debut winner last month at Santa Anita, has been entered in one-mile allowance race on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Charlatan got a Beyer Speed Figure of 105 when winning a sprint on Feb. 16.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 16:30

Brown considering three for Muniz Memorial Classic

Barbara D. Livingston
Rockemperor, who has not raced since August, is among the horses Chad Brown may start in the Muniz.

The late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel won the Muniz Memorial Classic (when it was called the Explosive Bid Handicap) two years in a row, in 2008 and 2009. Chad Brown, not late, and a sure future Hall of Famer, used to work for Frankel before launching his own impossibly successful training career and will try to do the same thing on March 21 at Fair Grounds.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 14:36

Talamo loaded for this week's Oaklawn stakes

Coady Photography
Joe Talamo wins the Grade 3 Honeybee with Shedaresthedevil. His mounts will be well-backed in four Oaklawn stakes this week.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Joe Talamo vaulted into a tie atop the stakes standings at Oaklawn Park last Saturday when he won both the Honeybee and Hot Springs. He can add to his totals this week, with key mounts in four stakes.

Talamo, 30, rides Remembering Rita in the Temperence Hill on Friday, then on Saturday will be aboard No Parole in the Grade 2 Rebel, Serengeti Empress in the Grade 2 Azeri, and Night Ops in the Essex Handicap.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 14:06

Kentucky Derby: Three Technique on offense for Parcells in Rebel Stakes

Coady Photography
Three Technique (outside) trains at Oaklawn on Feb. 29. he is scheduled to race in Saturday's Rebel Stakes and then move on to the Arkansas Derby.

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart grew up a fan of the New York Giants football team, which won Super Bowls titles following the 1986 and 1990 seasons, when he was 10 and 14 years old. So imagine Englehart’s excitement when he first met the coach of those teams, Bill Parcells, at Saratoga. Then imagine his excitement when Parcells eventually asked him to train horses for him.

“It’s like training for your boyhood idol,” Englehart said Wednesday.

Now imagine Englehart and Parcells teaming to win racing’s Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby. It’s not a far-fetched scenario.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 13:30

Stakes next for Gamine. But which one?

Emily Shields
Gamine wins a maiden race at Santa Anita last Saturday in her debut. Her second start could come in the Santa Anita Oaks, Ashland at Keeneland, or Fantasy at Oaklawn.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gamine will head to a stakes race next following her impressive debut win against 3-year-old maiden fillies Saturday at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said.

Gamine had been all the rage leading up to the race. Santa Anita’s racing office made the race go despite a small field to try and move her along toward grander opportunities after failing to fill the race for its originally scheduled day in the condition book six days earlier.

Where and when that next race will be won’t be determined quite yet.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 12:00

Kentucky Derby: Who's hot, who's not for March 11, 2020

WHO’S HOT

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 11:26

Starship Jubilee has significantly tougher job in Jenny Wiley

Tom Keyser
With Javier Castellano aboard, the 7-year-old Starship Jubilee brings her record this year to 3 for 3 by winning the Hillsborough Stakes on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Starship Jubilee will attempt to stay unbeaten on the year when she races next in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on the Keeneland turf.

Trainer Kevin Attard said Starship Jubilee, back at her Gulfstream base, exited her victory last Saturday in the Grade 2 Hillsborough at Tampa in good order and will take on the best in the filly-mare turf division in the April 11 Jenny Wiley going 1 1/16 miles.

Wed, 03/11/2020 - 11:16

Kenneally blows into Hurricane Bertie Stakes on a roll

Tom Keyser
Trained by Eddie Kenneally, Outburst wins the Florida Oaks on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Now that Eddie Kenneally is on a roll, why stop now?

Kenneally won stakes on both Florida coasts last Saturday – the Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs and the Captiva Island at Gulfstream Park – and he’s liable to tack on another when Lady Kate runs this Saturday in the Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream.

“Lady Kate definitely likes Gulfstream,” Kenneally said this week from his main winter base at the Palm Meadows training center.

Tue, 03/10/2020 - 13:21

Belmont Park to install synthetic surface on pony track

The New York Racing Association will dip its toe in the waters of synthetic surfaces by replacing the current dirt surface of the pony track at Belmont Park with a synthetic one.

The quarter-mile track, located just outside the barn area at Belmont, will this summer be refitted with a synthetic surface, though the exact type of material has not yet been determined. The plan is to have it ready for use this fall, following the Saratoga meet.