HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – He was bitten early by the racing bug, so much so that, from a young age, training was all he ever wanted to do. He remembers marveling at the exploits of Cigar in the mid 1990s, and in the late 1990s was captivated by the American Triple Crown, seeing the same faces show up every year.
Sir Rick is being pointed for the Grade 3, $700,000 Sunland Park Derby on March 22, trainer Robertino Diodoro said on Monday. The horse will enter the mile and an eighth race off a win in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby, the local prep which was run Sunday.
The Sunland Derby offers Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a scale of 50-20-10-5.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ron Paolucci resisted the urge to run the maiden filly Nikki and Papa in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, but perhaps only in deference to his ownership partners.
“I had somebody just buy in for 20 percent of the filly,” Paolucci said Monday from Texas, “and now I own 50 percent of her. I’d love to have run her against the boys if this was like her third start, but she’s only run the one time. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it when the circumstances are a little more in our favor.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Americanus earned himself an opportunity to compete in one of the upcoming Kentucky Derby preps after winning a loaded first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs Saturday.
Americanus slipped up the rail under jockey Javier Castellano to register a one-length victory over debut winner Violent City, with the highly regarded pair of Silver Ratio and Cost Basis also in his wake. The win was the second in four starts for Americanus, a son of War Front who posted a career-high 82 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Two local jockeys with ties to three horses currently considered major players on the Kentucky Derby trail will be sidelined indefinitely after sustaining injuries in two separate riding mishaps occurring less than 24 hours apart here last week.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Green Light Go is in but Structor will be out when entries are drawn early Wednesday afternoon for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Monday he intends to run his Grade 2 winner Green Light Go in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, but the much-anticipated 3-year-old and main-track debut for the undefeated Chad Brown-trainee Structor will have to wait another day.
A strong recent work has sent Sir Rick back into stakes company Sunday for the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park, according to his trainer, Robertino Diodoro.
The 1 1/16-mile race is one of four stakes on the card, and it serves as the final local prep for next month’s Grade 3, $700,000 Sunland Derby. The program includes the $75,000 Island Fashion, a prep for the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks, and an allowance that drew Grade 3 winner Runaway Ghost.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Max Player, the Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner and a member of Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch, returned to the work tab Wednesday morning, breezing five furlongs in 1:03.75 over the Belmont Park training track.
Max Player, a son of Honor Code trained by Linda Rice for owner George Hall, is pointing to the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 4.
