HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The 3-year-old competition leading to the Kentucky Derby will begin in earnest Sunday with the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Racing fans can start speculating, as they do annually, whether the sport will produce a superstar and possibly even a Triple Crown winner.
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Prominent horse owner Mike Repole has expressed interest in buying a percentage of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets from the team’s current owners, Fred and Jeff Wilpon, who reportedly could face millions of dollars in losses related to the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Yankee Passion is likely headed to the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest at Oaklawn Park following his flashy seasonal debut win at the track on Thursday. He won a six-furlong allowance in a rapid 1:10.88 in his first start since August, and for the effort he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 79.
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to point him to the Southwest,” said Larry Jones, who trains Yankee Passion.
Rogue Romance is among the top male 3-year-old prospects in Florida this winter, and Kathmanblu is one of the best 3-year-old fillies there, but both horses are likely to ship to Fair Grounds for their first dirt start of 2011, trainer Ken McPeek said Thursday. McPeek has penciled in Rogue Romance for the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19, and Kathmanblu is tentatively being pointed to the Rachel Alexandra, formerly called the Silverbulletday, on the same program.
There are three allowances on a 10-race Sunday card at Fair Grounds, but as far as Kentucky Derby watchers are concerned, only one that matters.
A chestnut colt named Machen will make the second start of his career in the fifth race, and after earning an eye-popping 95 Beyer Speed Figure in a romping victory in his Jan. 2 debut at the New Orleans track, a similar performance on the stretchout Sunday surely would bump him up a few rungs on everyone’s list of 2011 Derby prospects.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher survived a major scare when a quarantine imposed Thursday morning on all three of his barns at Palm Meadows – where juvenile champion Uncle Mo is stabled – and the one he occupies at Gulfstream Park was lifted later that afternoon. Pletcher shares Barn 2 at Gulfstream with trainer Jonathan Sheppard, who had one of his horses display symptoms of a neurological disorder on Wednesday. Fortunately, tests on the sick horse returned negative for the equine herpesvirus.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Rick Dutrow said that missing Sunday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull with likely favorite Boys At Tosconova was definitely a disappointment, but nothing that has him too concerned.
“I want to run him when he’s on top of his game,” said Dutrow. “He could be, but I don’t think he is at the moment.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For the most part, the Grade 3 Holy Bull has simply been regarded as the first step on the road to both the Florida Derby and ultimately Kentucky Derby for 3-year-olds stabled in south Florida each year. And while the one-mile Holy Bull remains the first of the local Derby preps, its status has dramatically changed due to a purse increase, up from $150,000 to $400,000 this winter, which basically turns the race into a win and you’re in event for the Kentucky Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Factor, who set a six-furlong track record on Dec. 26, is being pointed for the $150,000 San Vicente Stakes over seven furlongs on Feb. 20, trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday.
Owned by George Bolton and Fog City Stable, The Factor ran six furlongs in 1:06.98 on the opening day of the winter-spring meeting, drawing off to win by 8 1/4 lengths.
