ARCADIA, Calif. – Rafael Bejarano, among the leading riders in Southern California, has been given a three-day suspension for causing interference in the Angels Flight Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday.
Bejarano was cited for his ride on Sneaking Out, who was disqualified from first to second for drifting out in the stretch of the seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gray Magician is being rested at a Kentucky farm after finishing last of 19 in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday.
Trainer Peter Miller said Gray Magician bled “a little bit” in the Kentucky Derby. Sent off at 33-1, Gray Magician was 14th on the backstretch and as close as 13th on the turn before fading through the stretch on a sloppy and sealed racetrack.
“I don’t think he’ll be seeing a wet track again,” Miller said. “His two worse races were on sloppy tracks.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Omaha Beach, who was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby three days before the race after being diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis, could return to trainer Richard Mandella’s stable at Santa Anita as early as this weekend.
Mandella said Wednesday that Omaha Beach is being given a rest at WinStar Farm in Kentucky. Mandella said he has secured a reservation on a horse flight Sunday and may have Omaha Beach shipped west this weekend, depending on the colt’s condition.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The only two allowances on a nine-race Friday card at Churchill Downs will serve as bookend features when going as the first and last races on a program that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Both are scheduled for turf, although another rainy spell was being forecast for this region for Thursday through Sunday, perhaps imperiling grass racing for much of the weekend.
A $94,000 allowance for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles starts the Friday proceedings, while an $87,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs will bring things to a close as race 9.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Grade 1 Acorn on the Belmont Stakes undercard not only promises to rematch the first two finishers from the Kentucky Oaks, but the June 8 race also could get Break Even, whose victory in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the Oaks undercard was among the most dominant of Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – While the second jewel of the Triple Crown takes on a far different look than the first, a fourth Kentucky Derby holdover surfaced Wednesday as a good possibility to run in the May 18 Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore while one of the would-be “new shooters” dropped out.
When trainer Jeremiah O’Dwyer came to Laurel Park in the spring of 2017 he had three horses. Today he has 19, and when Silverbulletday winner Needs Supervision rejoins his barn later this month she’ll make an even 20.
O’Dwyer, a 37-year-old native of Tipperary, Ireland, is on an 8-for-17 run. On May 1, he won the $125,000 Kentucky Juvenile at Churchill Downs with Rookie Salsa and the next day sent out the Maryland-bred 2-year-old filly Punk Rock Princess to win a maiden race at Laurel. Jockey Angel Suarez was aboard for both wins.
It was a good weekend for Brown’s long-distance male turf runners. Brown won the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic with Bricks and Mortar and the Grade 3 Fort Marcy at Belmont with longshot Olympico.
Those two horses as well as Turf Classic fourth-place finisher Raging Bull and Fort Marcy fifth-place finisher Robert Bruce are all being pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
Bricks and Mortars is now 3 for 3 this year.
Newspaperofrecord, who suffered her first defeat when second to Concrete Rose in the Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 2, will likely make her next start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont on June 6, trainer Chad Brown said Tuesday.
In her first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Newspaperofrecord appeared to be cruising on the front end in the Edgewood. But she weakened in the stretch and gave no resistance to Concrete Rose who galloped past Newspaperofrecord to win by 3 3/4 lengths.
