ARCADIA, Calif. – Mike Smith says that the Kentucky Derby can weigh on a rider’s mind each spring.
“I don’t know when you want it the most – after you’ve won it once or if you’ve never won it,” he said on a recent morning at Santa Anita. “When you’ve won it, you want to win it again. You can imagine all you want, but until you do it . . . It feels like it’s a life changer.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rosie Napravnik was supposed to make a 10-hour drive from Delaware to Keeneland on Tuesday, but a nasty case of food poisoning delayed the trip by a day.
“It was horrible,” said Napravnik. “Four of us went to our favorite restaurant near Delaware Park [Monday night], and I had what everybody else had, except for the salad dressing. I was the only one who got sick, so I guess that was it.”
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Twenty-four hours later than scheduled, but none the worse for wear, undefeated champion Uncle Mo arrived in New York at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday morning for his engagement in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
Uncle Mo arrived from south Florida on a Tex Sutton flight that had been delayed one day due to weather concerns.
"He shipped in really well and everything went smoothly," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "Im glad we waited the extra day and let the weather clear up. We had an uneventful trip."
Churchill Downs and NBC Sports announced Wednesday that they once again will offer a $100,000 win bet on the Kentucky Derby to one fan, a marketing experiment that paid off wildly in its first try last year when a Houston man hit for $900,000 by placing his wager on Super Saver, the Derby winner at 8-1.
Patrick Valenzuela will ride Sway Away in the Arkansas Derby, trainer Jeff Bonde said Monday. The horse, who was the runner-up to The Factor in the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita in February, finished a troubled sixth last out in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel at Oaklawn. (The Factor won the race and on Monday worked six furlongs in 1:11.40 at Santa Anita.)
OZONE PARK, N.Y – Uncle Mo could face as many as 10 opponents in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and as far as the champion 2-year-old’s connections are concerned, the more the merrier.
“I want to get him around more horses,’’ owner Mike Repole said earlier this week. “In the Derby there’s going to be 20 horses. I’d like to see him get an outside post and not see him on the lead, but be able to rate and relax.’’
Clarke Lane, second in an allowance race over a mile on Sunday at Santa Anita, could start in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 16, trainer Simon Callaghan said on Tuesday.
“It’s just a thought, but we could supplement to the Blue Grass,” Callaghan said of the Grade 1 race over 1 1/8 miles. “He’s a real tough horse and he’s not lost any weight from the race. It’s something to look at. It’s back quick but it is that time of year with 3-year-old colts.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Six races into his career, Silver Medallion will make his first start on a dirt surface in Saturday’s $1 million Santa Anita Derby.
Uncle Mo’s arrival in New York for Saturday's Wood Memorial will be delayed.
The Tex Sutton flight expected to bring Uncle Mo - and 19 other horses - from south Florida to New York on Tuesday was canceled due to weather issues. The flight has been rescheduled for Wednesday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – One year after finishing a troubled-trip second in the Kentucky Derby with Ice Box, owner Robert LaPenta and trainer Nick Zito are positioned to make another charge at the blanket of roses with Dialed In, who, like Ice Box in 2010, enters the race off a last-to-first victory in the Florida Derby.
