Though the fate of his victory in a division of the Arkansas Derby on May 2 is to be determined, Charlatan continues to train for potential tasks ahead, and on Wednesday at Santa Anita he breezed an easy half-mile in 50 seconds for trainer Bob Baffert in his first work since the race. Of the 94 works on Wednesday at Santa Anita, his was the only one designated as breezing.
Whether upcoming weeks are a breeze for him is in question.
Trainer Christophe Clement will split up his pair of stakes-winning 3-year-old turf horses for their next starts.
Decorated Invader, the Grade 1 winning 2-year-old who won the $75,000 Cutler Bay Stakes at Gulfstream in his 3-year-old debut March 28, will make his next start in the Grade 2, $150,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes on June 20 at Belmont Park.
Gufo, who won his third straight race when he took the English Channel Stakes on May 2 at Gulfstream, is being pointed to the $150,000 Cinema Stakes on June 6 at Santa Anita. That plan is pending travel arrangements.
For nearly three decades, Louie Roussel III has followed the same script. Winter in New Orleans, summer in Chicago.
In a year where little has gone according to script for anyone, Roussel has made a detour. Instead of moving north following the winter at Fair Grounds, Roussel has shipped his horses to South Florida for the spring and summer.
Trainers Jack Carava, Matt Chew, Leonard Powell, and John Sadler were issued warnings by Santa Anita stewards earlier this month after runners in their care showed the presence of scopolamine in post-race tests taken after races from mid-October to mid-February at Del Mar and Santa Anita.
The trainers escaped more stringent penalties after the stewards ruled that “contamination was the cause for these positives and warnings were the appropriate penalty,” according to a summarization that appeared in the weekly minutes that stewards submit to the California Horse Racing Board.
The Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf Saturday and the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes for fillies and mares on Sunday are the main races at Santa Anita this weekend.
The $100,000 Honeymoon Stakes at 1 1/8 miles has a projected field of nine – Croughavouke, Fashion Royalty, Guitty, K P Dreamin, Laura’s Light, Little Bird, Parkour, Red Lark, and Stela Star.
Keeper Ofthe Stars, winner of the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on Monday at Santa Anita, will not have a busy summer in advance of a potential start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland in November.
Trainer Jonathan Wong said Wednesday that Keeper Ofthe Stars may have only one race in the interim, but said he wanted to see the stakes schedules for the Del Mar summer and Santa Anita autumn meetings before confirming plans.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Race Dates Committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Wednesday morning approved a special request by Keeneland Racecourse to run five live racing dates in July.
The approval gave the okay to an agreement between Keeneland and Ellis Park that will allow Keeneland to run spectator-free from July 8-12, overlapping dates that had been awarded to Ellis Park late last year, prior to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Keeneland announced the agreement late Friday night, and the committee was widely expected to approve the request.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox trainees are among the principals in a terrific renewal of the Winning Colors, one of two filly-mare stakes that highlight an 11-race Saturday card at Churchill. Asmussen has Mia Mischief, and Cox has Break Even in a six-furlong race that also drew Spiced Perfection and Bell’s the One in a field of nine.
The Winning Colors (race 7) and the Mint Julep (race 11) both are Grade 3, $100,000 races. Cox has two of the top contenders among a full gate of 14 in the Mint Julep, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, in Beau Recall and Juliet Foxtrot.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou will bypass the June 20 Belmont Stakes in favor of the July 8 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand or July 11 Blue Grass at Keeneland, trainer Brad Cox said. Fifth in a division of the Arkansas Derby in his last start, Wells Bayou already has a sufficient number of qualifying points (104) to make the 20-horse cutoff for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The connections of Midnight Bisou are leaning toward the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs as the next race for the star mare, although the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park is still in play.
Midnight Bisou, who has been the No. 1-rated horse every week in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll since March 10, has been “training gorgeously” at Churchill, trainer Steve Asmussen said this week. The next race for the 5-year-old mare will be her first since a runner-up finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29.
