HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Martini Glass invaded Oaklawn from Tampa Bay Downs and defeated a strong group of fillies and mares in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri on Saturday. It was her second straight stakes victory behind the Grade 3 Royal Delta in February at Gulfstream.
Martini Glass earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 94 in the Azeri, a point off her career-high number of 95.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hedge Fund and Untrapped, both of whom earned career-high Beyer Speed Figures for their one-two finish in the $300,000 Essex Handicap last Saturday at Oaklawn, could meet again in the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 14.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Hedge Fund put up a Beyer of 103 for his 2 3/4-length victory in the Essex. He set quick fractions – 46.13 seconds for the first half-mile and 1:10.45 for six furlongs – then turned back a bid at the top of the stretch before going on to cover 1 1/16 miles in a sharp 1:42.06.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Like the relentless nor’easters that seem to be arriving on a weekly basis, jockey Manny Franco has been pummeling his competition this month at Aqueduct.
In eight racing days here in March, Franco has 20 wins from 63 mounts. He won a personal-best five races on the March 9 card at Aqueduct and nearly duplicated the feat on Sunday, winning four times before losing the last race by the slimmest of noses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Rafael Bejarano sustained a broken left wrist after an accident in the final race Sunday at Santa Anita and will be out of action for at least three to four weeks, his agent, Tora Yamaguchi, reported Monday morning.
“Rafael most likely fell onto an outstretched arm and suffered a radius fracture,” Yamaguchi said. “The good thing is that it’s not displaced, but he will have to miss at least three to four weeks.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The graded stakes-winning filly Spectator returned to the races with a game victory in an allowance race Sunday at Santa Anita and has several options for moving back into stakes company, trainer Phil D’Amato said after the race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has confirmed what already had been suspected, that Grade 3 Withers winner Avery Island is now officially off the Derby trail after returning lame from a routine workout at Palm Meadows last Friday.
McLaughlin sent Avery Island to Rood and Riddle Clinic in Kentucky for further evaluation earlier this week.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Last year’s Eclipse Award-winning juvenile filly Caledonia Road continues to progress toward her 3-year-old debut, but trainer Ralph Nicks said he still has no definite plans regarding when or where that might be. Caledonia Road, who has not raced since her convincing victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 4, has had four works at Palm Meadows since returning to training earlier this winter. She fired a bullet half-mile in 48.35 seconds, the best of 35 at the distance, at the training center last Thursday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With only 11 3-year-olds nominated to Saturday’s $100,000 Hutcheson, the racing office will have its work cut out just getting the race to fill. It can, however, count on at least two names being in the box when entries are taken for the Grade 3 dash on Wednesday: Soutache, for trainer Ralph Nicks, and Impact Player, for Todd Pletcher.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ivy Bell has no bigger fan than her former owner Brook Smith. Over the winter, Smith sold Ivy Bell for an undisclosed price to the partnership of Mathis Stable and Madaket Stables after the daughter of Archarcharch had established herself as an up-and-coming sprinter in Kentucky.
Making her first start Saturday since being turned over to Todd Pletcher, Ivy Bell won the Grade 2 Inside Information at Gulfstream, earning a career-high 90 Beyer Speed Figure and stamping herself as a hot prospect in the national filly-mare sprint division.
