ARCADIA, Calif. - Ollie’s Candy will dive into the deep end on Memorial Day when she starts for the first time in nine months. After a big work Monday at Santa Anita, new trainer John Sadler confirmed the 4-year-old filly would start in the Grade 1 Gamely.
“It’s aggressive," Sadler said. "It’s her first race back and she’s going against older, but she looks pretty fit. She’s ready to go.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Catalina Cruiser, the top sprinter-miler in California last summer, will make his 2019 debut in the Grade 2 True North on June 7 at Belmont Park trainer John Sadler said Tuesday.
Sadler nominated Catalina Cruiser and Cistron, both owned by Hronis Racing, to the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
“I’m going to run Cistron here and save Catalina for New York,” Sadler said. “I’d like one more work [for Catalina Cruiser].”
Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., has canceled racing for Tuesday and Wednesday due to significant rainfall in the area over the last 24 hours, said Travis Noland, director of communications with Cherokee Nation.
Noland said Tuesday that the cancellation was made for the safety of jockeys and horses.
Parts of Oklahoma and Texas have been experiencing severe weather since Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Spectacular Music, a first-time starter who was pulled up on the backstretch of Sunday’s sixth race at Santa Anita, was euthanized Monday because of a pelvis injury, according to Rick Arthur, California’s equine medical director.
Trained by Steve Miyadi and co-owned by Miyadi and Nadine Anderson, Spectacular Music was pulled up by jockey Jorge Velez a little more than a furlong into a $50,000 claimer for maiden California-breds at six furlongs.
Anna’s Fast and Nayibeth, a pair of debut 2-year-old winners last month, made morning history Sunday at Keeneland.
The duo, aimed for races at England’s prestigious Royal Ascot meeting in June by trainer Wesley Ward, breezed a half-mile in company on the Keeneland turf course in 45.60 seconds, the fastest grass breeze over that distance there since at least 1996. A search of Daily Racing Form’s workout database, which dates back to spring 1996, revealed that before Sunday, the prior-best time had been 46.20, set by two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan in October 2011.
ARCADIA, Calif. – California trainers Mike Pender and Marcelo Polanco were told by Santa Anita management over the weekend to vacate their stalls, according to two track officials who declined to speak publicly.
Pender, who has approximately 19 horses, was cited for an undisclosed horse-welfare issue, while Polanco, who has five horses in his care, was cited for training a horse on behalf of another person, according to the track officials.
It was not immediately clear when Pender and Polanco would be required to disperse their horses.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Following a successful return to the races in Saturday’s Grade 2 Dixie Stakes on turf at Pimlico, Catholic Boy will return to the dirt for his next start in the Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park on July 6, trainer Jonathan Thomas said Monday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher is throwing out Spinoff’s 18th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby and plans to run him in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 8. On Sunday, Spinoff worked a half-mile in 48.72 seconds over the Belmont training track, his first work back since the Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap keeps getting better and better.
Thunder Snow, the two-time winner of the Dubai World Cup, is now targeting the Grade 1, $1.2 million Met Mile at Belmont Park on June 8, according to a report in The Sporting Life.
Though Thunder Snow is nominated to the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said he is more likely to run in the Met Mile.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – All wins are good but some are a little better than others. A case in point is River Front’s maiden victory here Sunday for trainer Ralph Nicks. River Front is the third foal out of the champion mare Havre de Grace to make the races and is now the third winner in a family that also includes older sister Graceful Princess and younger sibling Heavenly Grace, both of whom are also trained by Nicks. All three Havre de Grace offspring are owned by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm.
