LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Seven Trumpets earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure in winning an off-the-turf, one-mile allowance Thursday in 1:36.92 over a sloppy Churchill surface, marking the first win for the 3-year-old Morning Line colt since last fall.
“It was nice to be back in the winner’s circle with him,” said Dale Romans, who trains Seven Trumpets for West Point Thoroughbreds. “I guess we’ll go looking for a stakes with him again.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A four-day race week will conclude with another solid card, as three of the 10 Sunday races are allowances (races 4,7,9). The richest of those is the seventh, a $64,000 turf sprint for 3-year-olds in which Smart Remark could emerge as the one to beat.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Breeder David Anderson had quite the year in 2017. A total of 23 horses bred by Anderson Farms started, and 18 made trips to the winner’s circle. Seven of those were stakes winners or stakes-placed, including two Grade 2 winners.
One of those Grade 2 winners was Wonder Gadot, who captured the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct last November. Most recently, Wonder Gadot ran second in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 4 at Churchill Downs, a race Anderson said was his biggest thrill as a breeder.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The weather and routine were a bit different Friday morning when Justify went out for exercise, but the bottom line was the same – all is well with the superstar colt as the June 9 Belmont Stakes drew another day closer.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Jerkens will be sending horses far and farther in two marathon turf stakes next week at Belmont Park.
On Friday, Jerkens will send out Holy Helena in the Grade 2, $600,000 New York Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles. That same day, he will also saddle Rocketry in the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational at two miles.
On Thursday, Rocketry worked a mile over the Belmont training track in 1:41.91. Rocketry went his first half-mile in 51.51 seconds and his second half-mile in 50.50 under exercise rider Kelvin Pahal.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tapwrit, the 2017 Belmont Stakes winner, will make his long-awaited return to the races in an allowance Sunday at Belmont Park.
The race will be the first for Tapwrit since he finished fourth in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga last August. Tapwrit had been battling a foot issue that forced his connections to stop on him late last summer. Tapwrit injured the frog, the bottom of a horse’s foot that acts like a shock absorber, and was given ample time to heal.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The two fastest races Disco Partner has ever run were in the Jaipur Invitational at Belmont Park.
His connections hope he has at least one more fast race in those 6-year-old legs when he makes his third appearance in the Grade 2, $400,000 Jaipur Invitational on the undercard of the June 9 Belmont Stakes.
Last year, Disco Partner set a North American record when he ran six furlongs in 1:05.67 in winning the Jaipur by a half-length over Green Mask. In 2016, Disco Partner was beaten a neck by stablemate Pure Sensation in the Jaipur, which went in 1:06.76.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Skye Diamonds, a three-time stakes winner in 2017, worked three furlongs on the infield training track in 39.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Thursday.
The workout was the first for Skye Diamonds since she finished sixth in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 5.
Trained by Bill Spawr, Skye Diamonds is a candidate for the Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 7, a race she won in 2017. Spawr said earlier this month that Skye Diamonds struggled on the wet track at Churchill Downs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – McKinzie, a two-time graded stakes winner, is nearing a return to racetrack training after being sidelined with a hock injury in late March.
Trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday that McKinzie is tack-walking this week at his Santa Anita stable.
“He’ll be back,” Baffert said. “I wanted to make sure he was okay.”
Baffert said McKinzie had issues with a hock detected via a nuclear scan test conducted in late March. Nuclear scans are more precise than routine X-rays and can detect minor deficiencies.
