Midnight Interlude and Comma to the Top, the first two finishers of the Santa Anita Derby last Saturday and the only horses from that race expected to start in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7, resumed racetrack training Wednesday.
Midnight Interlude jogged at Santa Anita, while Comma to the Top did the same at Hollywood Park.
Beaten Wood Memorial favorite Uncle Mo returned to the racetrack Wednesday, jogging once around a wet Belmont Park training track.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said the training session was routine for a first day back following a race.
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was minutes after Wilkinson finished a fast-closing second last October in his career debut in a maiden race at Keeneland, and trainer Neil Howard was upbeat despite the colt getting beat in a close photo.
“He’s a nice horse,” said Howard. “He’s classy, real smart. I think he’s got a future.”
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - With Uncle Mo suffering his first defeat last weekend and Premier Pegasus sidelined by injury, The Factor has risen to the top of most of the Kentucky Derby charts. He even was made the 7-2 morning line favorite for the race in preliminary odds issued earlier this week by Churchill Downs.
Arthur’s Tale, runner-up to Toby’s Corner in last Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial, came out of the race with a popped splint bone in his left foreleg and will not make the May 7 Kentucky Derby, trainer Tom Albertrani said.
With only $200,000 in graded stakes earnings, Arthur’s Tale was in a precarious position as far as making it into the 20-horse Derby field as it was, but this injury now cements his fate.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Santiva was listed as the 3-1 favorite after being assigned post 3 in a field of 12 3-year-olds entered to run Saturday in one of the last remaining Kentucky Derby prep races, the 87th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
In the wake of his stunning defeat as the 1-9 favorite in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial, Uncle Mo underwent a battery of tests at Belmont Park on Tuesday, his connections said in a press release Tuesday night. The results of the tests likely won’t be available until Thursday, but the release said Uncle Mo was "completely sound."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
That’s essentially trainer Nick Zito’s theory when it comes to putting the final touches on Dialed In’s quest to win the 2011 Kentucky Derby on May 7.
Dialed In breezed an easy half-mile in 49.90 seconds early Tuesday morning at Palm Meadows under regular exercise rider Maxine Correa in what was essentially a leg-stretcher for the winner of the Grade 1 Florida Derby and arguably the current favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby.
Mike Battaglia, the morning-line maker for Churchill Downs, would make The Factor the 7-2 favorite for the Kentucky Derby if the May 7 race were run today, according to a release from Churchill. Dialed In and Uncle Mo are co-second choices on Battaglia's early line at 4-1.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 137th Kentucky Derby already has one feel-good story in Mucho Macho Man, whose trainer, Kathy Ritvo, has overcome major illness to become a natural root-for. And now the Derby could get a similar heart-tugger if King Congie runs well enough Saturday in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
King Congie (pronounced CON-jee), owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, is named for the late Congie DeVito, who died in February at age 35 after suffering throughout his life with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, more commonly known as brittle bone disease.
