ARCADIA, Calif. – The first goal was simply to win a race at Del Mar.
Last spring, trainer Michael McCarthy approached two clients – Bruce Treitman and Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners – with the idea of claiming Ohio, a 7-year-old Brazilian-bred gelding who was graded stakes-placed in 2016.
“We thought we’d get ourselves a horse that would be live at Del Mar,” McCarthy recalled on Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bellafina, the six-time stakes winner who was fifth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3, has returned to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable at Santa Anita.
Callaghan said on Sunday that Bellafina is scheduled to have her next start in the Grade 1 Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 3 and is unlikely to have a race in the interim.
“Most likely, we’ll point for the Test,” Callaghan said. “We’ll take our time with her.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – For her stakes debut, the Kentucky-based filly My Majestic Rose has been sent to Santa Anita for next Sunday’s Grade 2 Summertime Oaks.
The assignment will be a significant test for My Majestic Rose, who won a maiden special weight race for fillies and mares at Churchill Downs on May 2, leaving trainer Rodolphe Brisset sufficiently impressed to plan for an interstate trip.
“We feel with the maturation that she has shown she looks competitive in that spot,” Brisset said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown had quite the star-studded lineup out for turf workouts Sunday morning at Belmont Park, a dynamic dozen that included first works back from recent races for Grade 1 winners Newspaperofrecord, Bricks and Mortar, and Raging Bull.
BALTIMORE – As disappointed as he was two weeks earlier, that’s how happy Tyler Gaffalione was Saturday at Pimlico.
Absolutely beaming in the aftermath of his first victory in a Triple Crown event, which came when War of Will raced to victory in the 144th Preakness, Gaffalione said: “This wasn’t about redemption or revenge or anything like that. We were just focused on getting the horse to the winner’s circle.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – While the focus of the racing world was on Baltimore on Saturday, trainer Bill Mott was on Long Island, and his Kentucky Derby winner was in Louisville. Mott seemed perfectly content with that.
Mott was at Belmont to oversee the workouts for several of his horses, most notably Wood Memorial winner Tacitus, who breezed a half-mile in 48.41 seconds as he prepares for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 8.
BALTIMORE – Here are the early odds for the 144th Preakness at Pimlico following Friday advance wagering, as well as $2 will-pays in the two-day Black-Eyed Susan-Preakness double (handle, $810,322) starting with the Black-Eyed Susan winner, Point of Honor (No. 8):
ARCADIA, Calif. – Commander Coil, an unraced 3-year-old gelding, was euthanized Friday after suffering a shoulder injury during morning workouts at Santa Anita, trainer Marcelo Polanco said.
Commander Coil, who had his first published workout May 10, was galloping toward the end of the training session when he was pulled up. Commander Coil was vanned to the stables and could not be saved.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sunday’s 10-race card at Churchill is topped by a pair of turf allowances, one for 3-year-olds and up at a mile that goes as the eighth race with a $91,000 purse and the other an $87,000 entry-level contest for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles, carded as the fifth.
One of the notable entrants in the eighth is Lamartine, a dual Group 1 winner in his native Brazil. He makes his second start in the U.S. Sunday for trainer Steve Asmussen following a fifth at Keeneland April 20 in which he sped to the lead before fading to be last of five.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky Derby winner Country House returned to Churchill Downs Wednesday after clearing an examination at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. He had been sent there by trainer Bill Mott to get a full checkup after becoming ill in the days after the Derby.
“He looks good and I think the plan is to start him back with some light training,” assistant trainer Kenny McCarthy told Churchill publicity. “We’ll start him off lightly jogging and go from there.”
