Trainer John M. Cooper and his son, Gavyn, died in a plane crash Thursday night shortly after taking off from Midland International Airport in Midland, Texas, according to a press release from Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.

Cooper, who last weekend qualified a Quarter Horse for the Grade 1, $1 million Ruidoso Futurity, and Gavyn, 16, were the lone people on board the single-engine plane. Gavyn was a quarterback for Midland High School.

The crash, which happened at 7:20 p.m., is being investigated, according to the press release. 

Belmont Park
Friday, June 1
Weather: Rain
Training track: Good/muddy
Temperature: 68

ELMONT, N.Y. – Unfortunately, there will be no Audible in the starting lineup for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. But there certainly were plenty of weather- and track-related audibles being called around Belmont Park on Friday when it came to the workout schedules for three of the principal players in the final leg of this year’s Triple Crown.

Add Rugbyman to the list of prospective starters for next Saturday’s Easy Goer Stakes.

Trainer Graham Motion made that decision not long after the lightly raced Tapit colt worked four furlongs in dense fog in 48.60 seconds over the Belmont Park main track under jockey Jose Ortiz early Friday morning.

Rugbyman enters the 1 1/16-mile Easy Goer off a 14-length maiden win here May 13. He had finished third in his career debut four weeks earlier at Keeneland.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Before the heavy rain came and impacted track conditions Friday, trainer Todd Pletcher got in key workouts for several of his Belmont Stakes Day runners.

Ivy Bell and Unbridled Mo worked a half-mile in 48.95 seconds in company for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. Pletcher said he might cross-enter Ivy Bell in Friday’s Bed o’ Roses but is leaning toward the Phipps.

ELMONT, N.Y. – When trying to determine why Awesome Slew ran so poorly in last year’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, trainer Mark Casse felt one potential reason was that he shipped the horse to New York too late.

This year, Casse decided to ship the horse to Belmont early enough to get him a workout over the main track in preparation for the $1.2 million Met Mile. That plan fell through when Mother Nature doused the area with heavy rain Friday morning, prompting assistant trainer Jamie Begg to move Awesome Slew’s work to the training track.

Yo Y Me, a multiple stakes winner in his native Arizona, invades Colorado on Sunday to run in the $30,000 Arapahoe Park Sprint. He is part of a field of eight for a five-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up.

Others set to start include Z Smoking Gun, who was second in last year’s Arapahoe Sprint, and Rainbow Squall, winner of a $50,000 starter allowance at Santa Anita in his last start March 24.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Evin Roman, the champion apprentice jockey of 2017, has targeted a return to riding on June 14 from a foot injury sustained in a training accident April 24.

Roman will begin exercising horses Thursday, according to his agent, Tony Matos. The jockey met with a doctor earlier this week and was cleared to return to riding, Matos said.

The injury occurred when a horse stepped on Roman’s foot, breaking a bone above the big toe. The injury did not require surgery, but the recovery has taken longer than expected. Initially, Roman hoped to resume riding in May.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mobou, a rare California-bred by leading stallion Uncle Mo, will make his debut in a maiden race for 2-year-old statebreds in Sunday’s fifth race at Santa Anita.

Bought for $390,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, Mobou races for Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs and will be ridden by Gary Stevens. Mobou drew the rail in a field of eight, which has tempered Shirreffs’s expectations for Sunday’s race, but not the colt’s long-term prospects.

It’s a safe bet no rider has traveled farther to be part of the current Lone Star Park meet than Jamie Theriot.

Theriot showed up on the Texas scene May 11, after traveling more than 10,000 miles from the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. He had been under contract to ride for a prominent stable overseas, and spent more than two months in the republic located off the southeastern coast of Africa.

ELMONT, N.Y. – For as much success as trainer Todd Pletcher has had in the Belmont Stakes – three wins and five seconds from 14 runnings – he understands that the degree of difficulty might be at its highest when he sends out Vino Rosso and Noble Indy against the undefeated Justify in next Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes.

“For all of us, we need Justify to wake up on the wrong side of the bed to have a chance,” Pletcher said, referring to the unbeaten 3-year-old attempting to win the Triple Crown.