Popular East Coast racing announcer Larry Lederman has had a rough year physically and personally, but the proton therapy he recently completed proved successful and, besides some “collateral damage,” he is doing remarkably well healthwise.
Lederman was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 2011. The tumor proved manageable until last fall when an MRI revealed it had grown in size. In January, at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, surgeons were able to remove 70 percent of the tumor.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Bret Calhoun has opted to pass on the $75,000 Roxelana here Saturday with Finley’sluckycharm, who surely would have been a heavy favorite in the six-furlong race. Instead, Finley’sluckycharm, who has been working steadily here since June 3, will make her next start July 25 in the Honorable Miss at Saratoga, said Calhoun.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Only a few lengths separate the best turf milers from the also-rans. World Approval earned a divisional Eclipse Award last fall after winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but now the gray 6-year-old gelding is in no man’s land following two subpar starts.
ELMONY, N.Y. – It’s been quite the Belmont spring-summer meet for trainer Jason Servis, who has won with 12 of his 24 starters including four stakes wins.
He hopes the good times continue the remaining four weeks, especially on July 7 when he plans to run Firenze Fire in the Grade 3, $300,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile.
The last time Firenze Fire raced a mile at Belmont, he won the Grade 1 Champagne last fall.
Firenze Fire finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby. Has worked twice since, including a five-furlong move in 1:01.40 on June 11 under Irad Ortiz Jr.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Had things gone differently last month at Churchill Downs, Rushing Fall might be in England this week preparing for a start in Friday’s Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Instead, following her neck loss to Toinette in the Grade 3 Edgewood, Rushing Fall is home in New York getting ready for a summer campaign. Where that campaign resumes is not yet decided, but on Sunday Rushing Fall gave trainer Chad Brown confidence she is heading in the right direction with a sharp five-furlong workout over the Belmont turf course.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Stanley Gold will be the first to tell you racing is a game of cycles. And right now, nobody at Gulfstream Park is in a better cycle than Gold, his principal client Arindel Farm, and their go-to rider Jeffrey Sanchez.
The trio combined to win four races over the past weekend, including Sunday’s main event with Asterisk, who drew off to an easy victory over the 7-5 favorite Ruler of the Nile in the entry-level optional-claiming event.
Supermason, a six-time stakes winner, returns to the overnight ranks for Thursday night’s third race at Lone Star Park. He leads an optional $40,000 claiming sprint at six furlongs that also drew three-time stakes winner Rumpole and recent allowance winner Mr. N.
Supermason last raced April 19, when he won Lone Star’s opening night stakes, the Bluebonnet, for the third year in a row. The Bret Calhoun trainee is 7 for 12 over the local main track, and he also has a turf win at Lone Star.
Magic Vow has registered both of his stakes wins on dirt, and he will be moving back to dirt off a turf victory for the $100,000 Evangeline Downs Mile on Saturday night. The Evangeline Mile drew eight, led by Brad Cox trainee Dazzling Gem, and is the richest open-company stakes of the meet.
Evangeline will run a total of four stakes Friday night and Saturday. The races are worth a cumulative $275,000 and include the $75,000 Spotted Horse for fillies and mares, which drew Adore.
ELMONT, N.Y. – La Sardane, winner of the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes at Belmont on June 7, will make her next start in the $100,000 Perfect Sting Stakes here on June 30, trainer Neil Drysdale said Sunday.
“I think I prefer to race her rather than training and training,” Drysdale said.
Drysdale was at Belmont Sunday to watch La Sardane and the 3-year-old filly Toinette put in workouts over the Belmont turf course.
La Sardane went a quick half-mile in 47.85 seconds.
