Churchill Downs announced Thursday that it plans to begin its spring meet without spectators on Saturday, May 16.
The track will card races on Saturday and Sunday during the first week and will race Thursdays through Sundays in subsequent weeks. A special Memorial Day card will be offered on Monday, May 25. First post for each race day is 1 p.m. Eastern.
The announcement came a day after Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared that the Churchill Downs backstretch could reopen on Monday, May 11.
Canterbury Park will open its stable area May 8 but a time frame for running a 2020 race meets at the Minnesota track remains uncertain.
Canterbury’s backstretch was scheduled to open April 24 in advance of opening day on May 15 before Minnesota was placed on coronavirus lockdown by Gov. Tim Waltz. Thursday, Waltz issued an executive order, specifically including Canterbury’s backstretch, permitting some businesses to reopen.
Vekoma and Point of Honor, two of George Weaver’s graded stakes winners from a year ago, got their seasons off to solid starts, and the trainer is anxiously awaiting a schedule to map out plans for them.
Vekoma, last year’s Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winner, came off an 11-month layoff to win the Sir Shackleton Stakes on March 28 at Gulfstream with a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
Shortly after his eight-length debut victory last May at Churchill Downs, Hop Kat was sidelined with an ankle chip, costing him the remainder of his 2-year-old season.
While Hop Kat also missed the first quarter of his 3-year-old season, in actuality he didn’t miss that much at all. His connections hope that Hop Kat’s allowance victory last Sunday at Gulfstream Park may have come at the right time to set himself up for a solid summer campaign.
“I guess for this year, it’s good timing for a comeback,” trainer Eddie Kenneally said.
Listed stakes winners Vast and Spanish Point head a field of six entered in an open-condition allowance race for 3-year-old fillies Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
Vast, a daughter of Lea trained by Bill Mott, won a maiden race at Saratoga on debut last July 12 and the Hollywood Wildcat Stakes at Monmouth Park in September from four starts as a 2-year-old. She has not raced since being disqualified from third to fourth in the one-mile Tempted Stakes on Nov. 1 at Aqueduct.
All was right again with the racing world on Thursday after even-money favorite Sunshine City came flying down the center of the course to win the second race at Gulfstream Park, finally giving trainer Wesley Ward his first 2-year-old winner of the year.
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Santa Anita is making advanced plans to resume racing on May 15 following a break of nearly two months caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to a letter top track executive Aidan Butler sent to executives of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, California Thoroughbred Trainers association, and Jockey’s Guild on Wednesday.
In the two-page letter, Aidan Butler wrote that Santa Anita “is targeting May 15 for the resumption of live racing under strict protocols,” which includes no spectators.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Churchill Downs in Louisville will be able to open its backstretch beginning May 11, according to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who made the announcement during his daily afternoon briefing on Wednesday about the COVID-19 virus and the state’s efforts to contain it.
Tiz the Law has worked three times since his resounding victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby while trainer Barclay Tagg awaits the opportunity to run the horse next.
Tiz the Law’s most recent workout came Sunday at Palm Meadows, where he went a half-mile in 49.60 seconds by himself.
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“He’s doing great, I’m just scared to death of not having a goal,” Tagg said Wednesday.
Trainer Danny Gargan will use the two overnight turf stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park as the seasonal debuts for a pair of promising 3-year-old progeny of Kitten’s Joy.
Don Juan Kitten, who went 1 for 2 as a 2-year-old, will make his 3-year-old debut in the $75,000 English Channel Stakes, while Astoria Kitten, who went 1 for 3 as a 2-year-old, will return in the $75,000 Honey Ryder Stakes. Both races are scheduled for 1 1/16 miles.
Don Juan Kitten won his debut Oct. 5 at Belmont Park and then finished third, beaten 1 3/4 lengths, in the Awad Stakes three weeks later.
