SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The very promising A. P. Kid, runaway winner of the Pennine Ridge at Saratoga just three weeks earlier, was euthanized after suffering an irreparable fracture while working over the Oklahoma turf course on Friday.
A. P. Kid had just entered the stretch when he “took a funny step switching leads,” trainer Todd Pletcher said in explaining what caused the fatal injury.
Trainer John Sadler and Hronis Racing have added the European winners Namaron and Suchet to their stable in advance of the Del Mar summer meeting.
Namaron, a 3-year-old German-bred, was third by three-quarters of a length in the Group 3 Badener Meile at Baden-Baden Racecourse in Germany on May 29. Namaron is by the Shamardal stallion Aramon.
Suchet, a 4-year-old by Cloth of Stars, is a two-time winner in 11 starts who was third in a minor stakes at a mile at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in Paris last November.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Grand Slam Smile won in a different manner in an allowance race on Saturday at Los Alamitos than in her preceding six wins – she fought back after being passed.
In her first start since November, Grand Slam Smile set the early pace, briefly lost her advantage to Ma Rae’s Girl, and then rallied to retake the lead, eventually winning by 2 1/2 lengths.
The style of the win left trainer Sean McCarthy slightly stunned, but delighted.
“I was concerned, put it that way,” McCarthy said.
One Magic Philly will need a career-best race to record an upset win in Saturday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for female sprinters at Los Alamitos, a field led by national division leader Kopion.
She can do just that, trainer Phil D’Amato said.
“She’s got the talent,” he said. “She has to put it all together.”
Owned and bred by John Gallegos, One Magic Philly has started once this year, finishing third as the even-money favorite in the $125,000 Skipat Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs on May 17 at Pimlico in her first start since late December.
Jockey Corey Lanerie became the second-leading rider in Churchill Downs history with a victory aboard Taylor’s Version in a maiden race Friday beneath the twin spires.
Lanerie now has 1,233 wins at Churchill Downs, edging past fellow Louisiana native Calvin Borel – who is currently riding in their home state – with 1,232 wins. Retired Hall of Famer Pat Day holds the track’s all-time record, with 2,482 wins at Churchill Downs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has been training regularly over the Oklahoma strip since shipping the majority of his stable to Saratoga earlier this spring, but he switched venues on Friday. He worked 13 horses over the main track during the course of the morning, including the Suburban-bound pair of Locked and Antiquarian.
The two horses were a contrast in styles in their final serious preparation for the Grade 2 event next Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sovereignty, who has bounced out of his decisive victory over Journalism in the Belmont Stakes with a series of eye-catching gallops on the Oklahoma training track the past two weeks, finally returned to the work tab on Friday. He breezed an easy half-mile in 51.27 seconds, per Daily Racing Form, over a track that has been very cuppy and on the slower side of late.
Grand Slam Smile, a five-time stakes winner at Santa Anita in the last two years, starts for the first time since November in an allowance race at Los Alamitos on Saturday, her first start for new trainer Sean McCarthy.
Grand Slam Smile, who races for owners and breeders Larry and Marianne Williams, was trained in her first 11 starts by Steve Specht, who retired in late 2024.
A 4-year-old filly, Grand Slam Smile was transferred to McCarthy earlier this year.
“We’ve gotten to know her with each work,” McCarthy said on Friday.
Goal Oriented, fourth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17 in his stakes debut, is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 19, trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday.
Goal Oriented worked five furlongs in a rapid 58.60 seconds under jockey Drayden Van Dyke at Santa Anita on Friday, the colt’s third workout of the month. Goal Oriented zipped through a half-mile in 47.20 seconds on June 13, and went a half-mile in 48.40 seconds last Saturday.
