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.
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.
With heavy rain forecast for Southern California, Santa Anita has preemptively canceled racing for Friday, March 13.
The track initially announced the cancellation in a tweet on Monday afternoon, noting that weekend racing "will be evaluated later this week and will be dependent on the forecast."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Jose Ortiz, sidelined after suffering a slight fracture in his right wrist in a post parade mishap here on Feb. 22, has been cleared to return riding again his agent Jimmy Riccio said on Monday. The injury forced Ortiz to cancel his trip to Saudi Arabia, where he was to ride Tacitus for trainer Bill Mott in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29.
“This is excellent news for our camp,” said Riccio. “We never thought he’d be back this soon. He healed remarkably. The doctor called him Wolverine. That’s just youth, I guess.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The spring-summer stakes schedule at Gulfstream was released this past weekend, with the most noteworthy news the switching of the Grade 2 Princess Rooney and the Grade 3 Smile Sprint from early summer to Sept. 5. The distance of the Princess Rooney has also been cut back from seven furlongs to six, with the purse increased $50,000, to $300,000.
The Princess Rooney has been a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – An odyssey that started here for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. when Chance It drew post 12 for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth ended in disappointment 10 days later at Tampa Bay Downs after the Kentucky Derby candidate finished fifth, 8 1/2 lengths behind runaway winner King Guillermo, in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Shedaresthedevil, who won the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee on Saturday at Oaklawn, emerged from the race in good order and is being pointed to the track’s Fantasy, trainer Brad Cox said Monday.
The Grade 3, $600,000 Fantasy at 1 1/16 miles opens the Racing Festival of the South on April 10.
“We’ll leave her right at Oaklawn, point for the Fantasy,” Cox said. “Hopefully, we’ll get another good race, set her up for the Kentucky Oaks.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Lady Apple on Monday had her final breeze for Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri at Oaklawn. She could go favored in the 1 1/16-mile race that shares a card with the Rebel and the $350,000 Essex Handicap.
Lady Apple went a half-mile by herself in 51.40 seconds. She is coming off a win in the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 26 at Sam Houston. Lady Apple was a half-length winner and for the effort earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97.
Asmussen said Ricardo Santana Jr. has the mount in the Azeri.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Javier Castellano has the mount on Basin in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. The mile and a sixteenth race is Saturday.
Basin, who in his last start won the Grade 1 Hopeful on Sept. 2 at Saratoga, had his final work for the Rebel on Monday at Oaklawn. He went a half-mile by himself in 51.80 seconds. The track was fast on a morning with temperatures in the 50s.
