McAfee, runner-up to Hill Road in the Grade 3 Peter Pan at Aqueduct two weeks ago, will make his next start in the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 21, Jake Ballis, managing partner of the group that owns majority interest in the horse, said Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The undefeated filly Cavalieri, a notable absentee from the nominations for Sunday’s Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita, will not race until the Del Mar summer meeting, according to trainer Bob Baffert.
Cavalieri, who won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on March 8 in her last start, has not had a published workout since mid-April.
“I’m going to wait for Del Mar,” Baffert said on Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Last May, on the Memorial Day program at Santa Anita, jockey Umberto Rispoli won two Grade 1 races on the same program for the first time in his career with Anisette in the Gamely Stakes and Johannes in the Shoemaker Mile.
The same milestone is within reach on Monday for Rispoli, who has been at the center of the racing world after his dramatic win aboard Journalism in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. The Preakness was the first American classic victory for the 36-year-old Rispoli, a native of Italy who has ridden in the United States since late 2019.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $2 pick six at Santa Anita on Sunday begins with a carryover of $45,806.
The carryover was confirmed after the ninth race on Saturday’s 10-race program, the fifth division of the bet. An upset win by Druidic ($32.40) in the ninth race clinched the carryover.
Sunday’s pick six covers the fifth through 10th races on a program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific. The pool of new money is likely to surpass $250,000. The fifth race has a scheduled post time of 3:08 p.m.
Approximately 13 hours before the Preakness was run at Pimlico, Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty was in action at Saratoga, where he worked a half-mile in 49.75 seconds over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the June 7 Belmont Stakes to be run at Saratoga.
According to New York Racing Association clocker David Norton, Sovereignty went in splits of 12.88 seconds, 25.02 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:04.29. Sovereignty went by himself under exercise rider Neil Poznansky.
Baeza, third in the Kentucky Derby on May 3, worked a slow half-mile in 53.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday in preparation for a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 7.
Ridden by Hector Berrios, Baeza had the slowest of 43 recorded works at the distance on the main track. The time was not a concern for trainer John Shirreffs.
“He was very relaxed and doing it very easily,” Shirreffs said. “He looked really nice.”
May Day Ready, the Grade 2 Jessamine winner who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, will make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $300,000 Wonder Again Stakes at Saratoga on June 7, trainer Joe Lee said Friday.
Lee had been pointing May Day Ready to the Edgewood Stakes at Churchill on May 2, but the filly came into season and Lee could not prepare her for a race like he wanted.
May Day Ready spent the winter at Fair Grounds and then moved to Keeneland, where she remains.
Bless the Broken, third to Good Cheer in the Kentucky Oaks, is being pointed to a rematch with that undefeated filly in the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn on June 6 at Saratoga, trainer Will Walden said.
Bless the Broken, winner of the Bourbonette Oaks, had a bit of a wide trip in the Oaks. She finished 3 1/2 lengths behind Good Cheer and 1 1/4 lengths behind runner-up Drexel Hill, who rallied inside of Bless the Broken in the stretch.
Locked, the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner who finished fourth in the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs two weeks ago, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban Stakes on July 4 at Saratoga, owner Aron Wellman said Friday.
Jockey Diego Herrera has been suspended seven racing days, from Friday through May 26, for two incidents in which his mounts were disqualified in races at Santa Anita in late April and early May, according to rules recently published by Santa Anita stewards.
