It’s been a lean start to 2025 for trainer Phil D’Amato, who has one of the most high-profile stables on the West Coast.
Through Thursday, D’Amato has yet to win a stakes this year. During a comparable time last year, he had nine such wins. Last year, D’Amato finished with 36 stakes wins, including 33 in California to lead the state’s trainers.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It is expected there will be plenty of pace in this year’s Kentucky Derby. Brian Lynch doesn’t want his horse, Owen Almighty, to be a part of it.
Despite Owen Almighty’s biggest win to date, the Tampa Bay Derby, having been accomplished in gate-to-wire fashion, Lynch expects Owen Almighty to be off the pace in his attempt to navigate the 1 1/4 miles of the Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
Churchill Downs Inc. has put nearly $1 billion in renovations to its flagship Louisville track on hold, the company announced on Wednesday night, citing “increasing uncertainty surrounding construction costs related to tariffs and trade disputes, as well as current macro-economic conditions.”
Heroic Move is settled in at Lone Star Park after dominating the $200,000 Sunland Park Handicap earlier this month. He won by eight lengths and for the effort earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
“He’s doing good,” said trainer Robertino Diodoro. “He’s at Lone Star now and hopefully he can defend his title as the Steve Sexton Mile winner. That’s what we’re pointing towards again.”
Heroic Move won the Grade 3, $400,000 race last year. The renewal is set for May 26.
Heroic Move is now 5 and seems to be a better horse this year.
Led by the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares, Los Alamitos has three stakes scheduled for its nine-day Los Angeles County Fair summer meeting from June 20 to July 6.
The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on July 5 is the richest race of the brief season. There are two $100,000 races on the first two Saturdays, the Bertrando Stakes for California-breds at a mile on June 21 and Los Alamitos Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on June 28. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has won the Los Alamitos Derby in each of the last eight years.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Straight No Chaser, the champion sprinter of 2024, recently returned to trainer Dan Blacker’s stable at Santa Anita after mixed results in a two-race campaign in the Middle East earlier this year.
Straight No Chaser “has good energy and is bouncing around the barn,” Blacker said last weekend.
Long-range plans for Straight No Chaser include a potential start in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 26 and the definite goal of an appearance in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
While trainer Bob Baffert shipped Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez to Kentucky on Tuesday, he kept Citizen Bull back in California. On Wednesday at Santa Anita, the 2-year-old champion worked seven furlongs in 1:24.30 in preparation for the Kentucky Derby.
It was the third work in 11 days for Citizen Bull, who on April 13 went a half-mile in 47.60 seconds and on April 18 drilled six furlongs in 1:11.80. In the April 18 work, Citizen Bull started five lengths behind a workmate before finishing a length or so in front at the wire.
Relying on streaks of success at Charles Town, trainer Timothy Grams is well on his way to 1,000 victories. With three wins last week, the 61-year-old trainer now stands at 996 in his career and has several live runners who could put him over in the next few weeks.
There are those in the racing industry who use career milestones as benchmarks for success. Grams isn’t one of them.
“As far as how many races we win, as long as I got a couple dollars in the bank, that all doesn’t bother me too much,” Grams said.
Trainer Graham Motion recently completed another annual migration, shipping dozens of horses from Florida to Maryland to kick off the spring racing season. Combining his Florida string with those already stabled at the Fair Hill Training Center over the winter, he estimated that he now has 70 horses training in Maryland.
“It’s an organization, but it’s something we’ve been doing a long time,” Motion said. “I’ve been doing it since the old Gulfstream, so it’s been a while.”
A live auction during the Arkansas Racetrack Chaplaincy banquet last month raised $27,000 for the organization, according to Chaplain Robi Heffington.
She said there were 15 items on offer and the top sellers were an Oaklawn saddle towel quilt that brought $8,500 and a custom, artistic walking cane signed by D. Wayne Lukas that brought $6,000.
An original painting of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan by award-winning artist Renee Torbit brought $1,000. There also were 100 silent auction items.
