ARCADIA, Calif. – Paved, a 3-year-old filly by Quality Road, laid the groundwork for an outstanding 2018 season with wins in her first two starts this year.
A victory in a maiden race on turf for fillies Jan. 6 was followed by a win as the 2-1 favorite in the El Camino Real Derby against males on the Tapeta track at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 17.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher won the only two races he was in on Sunday to cap a meet at which he won 69 races and captured his 15th straight Gulfstream Park trainer's title.
Pletcher, who won his record fifth Florida Derby on Saturday with Audible, finished 33 wins ahead of Jorge Navarro and Mike Maker, who finished tied for second with 36.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After finally getting a chance to see McKinzie for the first time in a week, assessing his status, and looking at the calendar, trainer Bob Baffert on Monday morning here at Santa Anita said it was “not looking good” for McKinzie to make the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Coach Rocks came out of her victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks in good order and left South Florida on Sunday for Churchill Downs, where she will make her next start in the Kentucky Oaks on May 4.
Coach Rocks, who won her maiden on the lead, had a more difficult trip in the Gulfstream Oaks, racing in seventh position early before having to make a wide bid in the final three furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Greyvitos, the winner of the $402,400 Springboard Mile at Remington Park in December, will have a new jockey when he returns from injury in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 14.
Evin Roman, the champion apprentice jockey of 2017, will ride Greyvitos for the first time, trainer Adam Kitchingman said on Sunday. Roman replaces Victor Espinoza, who is booked to ride Accelerate in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on the same day.
On Sunday at Del Mar, Greyvitos worked seven furlongs from the gate in 1:27.20 under Roman.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolt d’Oro reached the finish of a five-furlong workout at Santa Anita on Sunday in 1:01.20. It was then that the talented colt decided the exercise was not complete.
“When he got to the wire, he grabbed the bit like he was coming out of the gate,” trainer Mick Ruis said.
Exercise rider Agapito Delgadillo told Ruis that Bolt d’Oro had ample energy after five furlongs. The promising workout comes just days before Bolt d’Oro starts in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday in a final prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Exercise rider Adrian Valenzuela sustained a spinal-cord injury in a spill at Santa Anita on Saturday and did not have feeling in his legs on Sunday morning, according to his father, trainer Martin Valenzuela.
Adrian Valenzuela, 21, was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday at Huntington Memorial hospital in Pasadena, his father said.
Martin Valenzuela said Adrian suffered a “fractured back.” Doctors have told Martin Valenzuela that his son could be paralyzed from the waist down.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher came to South Florida this winter with a bevy of unproven commodities in the 3-year-old division. He will leave here in a few weeks for Churchill Downs with a strong portfolio of contenders for the 144th Kentucky Derby.
Monomoy Girl, among the leading prospects for the Kentucky Oaks, worked Sunday at Keeneland as she targets the track's major prep for the filly classic.
The Tapizar filly, trained by Brad Cox, worked four furlongs in company in 47 1/5 seconds in her final major move prior to the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes next Saturday. The filly worked early Sunday to beat wet weather expected to move into the Lexington, Ky., area later in the day; the track was officially rated “fast” for training hours. Monomoy Girl went the opening quarter in 24 seconds and galloped out in 59 4/5 seconds.
