BALTIMORE - Brad Cox nailed down first prize over Steve Asmussen in the Maryland Jockey Club’s $100,000 trainer participation bonus program in the Preakness by sending out third-place finisher Owendale and fourth-place Warrior’s Charge. Asmussen finished fifth in the Preakness with Laughing Fox.
To be eligible to share in the bonus pool, a trainer must have started at least five horses in the 16 stakes races during Preakness weekend. Horses accumulated points based on their finish position.
Mocito Rojo, a $10,000 claim turned Grade 3 winner with his victory in last month’s $300,000 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park near Dallas, will make his next start at his base of Evangeline Downs, trainer Shane Wilson said Wednesday.
“We’ll stay home and run in the Evangeline Mile again,” Wilson said. “He’s never lost on the main track here.”
Mocito Rojo was a 1 3/4-length winner of last year’s Evangeline Mile. The $100,000 race for 3-year-olds and up will be run June 22.
“After that, we’ll look around the country,” Wilson said.
Monte Man will be moving back to dirt Saturday night when he attempts to win the $75,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint for the second year in a row at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La.
The 5 1/2-furlong race is one of six stakes worth a cumulative $450,000 on the annual Louisiana Legends Night program. The stakes cater to various divisions, and each is restricted to horses bred in Louisiana. There will be a pick four on races 4-7 that has a minimum guaranteed pool of $50,000, according to Chris Warren, director of racing for Evangeline.
ARCADIA, Calif. - There will be no price tag on the veteran gelding Ashleyluvssugar anytime soon.
Wednesday, Ashleyluvssugar, a six-time stakes winner, was entered in Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita and will not start in the newly created $75,000 War Horse Claiming Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on June 8. The War Horse Claiming Stakes is for horses entered to be claimed at prices ranging from $125,000 to $150,000.
The 14 races trainer Mike Biehler won during 2018 marked his lowest annual total since 1995, but the Minnesota native, who began training in 1989 at Canterbury, has restocked his stable and is rolling early this Canterbury season.
Biehler entering this week’s racing had a meet record of 14-5-3-2 after winning just seven races throughout the entire 2018 Canterbury meet, and the Friday night card of May 17 was particularly memorable.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After winning 27 races during the 2018-19 championship meet, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. set his sights high for the current spring session, which runs through June 30.
“Our main goal was to win the training title at this meet, and so far everything is working out well,” said Joseph, who entered the week with a dozen victories and a four-win cushion atop the standings. “I’ve got very supportive owners, a good team, and so far I am very pleased with the way things have been going to this point.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A heat wave accompanied by rain was in the forecast for this region for the latter part of this week, so the good news is that none of the three allowances on a nine-race Friday card at Churchill is scheduled for turf.
The 1 1/16-mile co-features are $91,000 third-level allowances with identical conditions, except that race 3 is for fillies and mares and race 8 is for 3-year-olds and up. Cosmic Burst, the winner of the Zia Park Oaks last fall, looks like the horse to beat in race 3, while Hawaakom and My Boy Jack are among the principals in race 8.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Liora, the runner-up to Serengeti Empress in the Kentucky Oaks on May 3, underwent surgery Tuesday at the Rood and Riddle equine clinic in Lexington, Ky., to repair an injury to her right hind leg sustained in a routine gallop this week at Churchill Downs.
