ETOBICOKE, Ontario – King’s Plate winner Mansetti was crowned the 2025 Canadian Horse of the Year at the 51st Sovereign Awards ceremony in suburban Toronto on Thursday evening.
Mansetti edged his Kevin Attard-trained stablemate Caitlinhergrtness in the Horse of the Year voting by a points margin of 81-74. Following Starship Jubilee in 2019 and Moira in 2023, Mansetti is the third Horse of the Year trained by Attard, who felt the son of Collected was a deserving winner of the accolade.
Subsanador, a Grade 1 winner in 2024 who was fourth in the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita on March 29 in his first start in 18 months, is tentatively scheduled to start in the $200,000 Lake Ouachita Stakes at Oaklawn Park on May 2.
Subsanador worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 at Santa Anita on Thursday.
The Lake Ouachita Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles for older horses and was selected because of timing and availability, trainer Richard Mandella said.
“There are no other options,” Mandella said.
Jockey Vicente Del-Cid, a leading rider at Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs in recent years who currently ranks among the 20 leading riders in the nation in wins, left California earlier this month and told his agent that he plans to retire.
Del-Cid has not ridden since April 5 at Santa Anita. He moved from Louisiana to California in late February and had three wins from 25 mounts at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.
“He retired from riding and moved back to Guatemala,” his agent, Ryan Glatt, said on Wednesday. “I think he wanted to be closer to his family.”
Churchill Downs
Thursday, April 23
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 66°
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The inexact science of preparing a horse for a grueling race like the Kentucky Derby was never more on display than Thursday at Churchill Downs, with trainers using very diverse methods of bringing their 3-year-olds up to the big event. Even within their own barns.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – This week, the eyes of the sports world are on Louisville, as the River City prepares for the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
“It’s a great, great time of year,” said trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native. “It’s Louisville’s day to shine throughout the world.”
But there is life beyond the Kentucky Derby. This Saturday kicks off the Churchill Downs spring meet, with a total of 44 race dates and 50 stakes races cumulatively worth a record $27.8 million.
ARCADIA, Calif. – In the wake of a fatal breakdown in a hillside turf sprint April 4, followed by miscommunication that compromised heavily favored Queen Maxima in the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes the same day, Santa Anita veterinary staff have issued new protocols for hillside turf sprints.
The Santa Anita Downhill Turf Course Protocols limit horses eligible for downhill races and require jockeys to school their mounts downhill over the dirt crossing before going to the starting gate at the top of the hill. The directive also precludes apprentice jockeys from riding in those races.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Triple Crown nominee Crupper earned a Preakness berth for his win in the $200,000 Bathhouse Row Stakes last Saturday at Oaklawn Park and will be considered for a start in the 3-year-old classic, according to his trainer, Donnie Von Hemel.
Crupper emerged from the Bathhouse Row in good order and is now settled in at Churchill. Von Hemel and Robert Zoellner, who bred and owns Crupper, will be debating a start in the Preakness.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Grade 1 winner Saudi Crown and the 3-year-old colt Munnings Challenge have been two of the most notable winners trainer Brad Cox has had at the current Oaklawn Park meet that closes May 2.
Saudi Crown launched his 6-year-old season here March 5 with a ratings handicap win over 1 1/16 miles, earning one of the meet’s best Beyer Speed Figures, a 101. Saudi Crown then traveled to Keeneland and won the Grade 3 Commonwealth over seven furlongs April 4. For his next start, the $3.6 million earner could return to Grade 1 company, according to Cox.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will conduct races for four days – from April 30 to May 3 – and run a twilight program on May 1 in conjunction with Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs.
The track announced earlier this spring that racing will be held on Thursday, April 30 as a makeup for weather-related cancellations since late December. The April 30 program will be run on conjunction with a program at Churchill Downs that includes three stakes, which could lead to strong simulcast handle.
On May 1, Santa Anita will begin its live program at 3:15 p.m. Pacific.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato said earlier this week that he has added the multiple stakes winner Majestic Oops to his Kentucky-based stable.
Majestic Oops, a 6-year-old California-bred mare, has won 9 of 36 starts and earned $1,064,808. She was previously trained by Dan Ward, who recently accepted a position as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in Kentucky.
