It’s no surprise seeing Brad Cox in contention for the trainer’s title at the Churchill spring meet, but there are other surprises within the trainer standings.
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DRF Past Performances
It’s not that the Chicago Stakes on Saturday night at Churchill Downs was a make-or-break race for the 5-year-old mare Vahva. Or was it? Vahva had not won since the 2024 Chicago, ran flat in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, and in her first start since that race finished seventh, beaten more than a dozen lengths, in the Derby City Distaff on Derby Day. Granted, the Derby City Distaff featured an absolutely stellar field and was contested over a sloppy track, but Vahva still had something to prove in the Chicago – and she proved it.
The last weeks of June will be a quiet period for Journalism, winner of the Preakness Stakes who was second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes this spring.
Journalism has been galloping on a daily basis at Santa Anita since his second-place finish to Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga, trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday.
McCarthy stressed that he and the partnership that own Journalism have not determined race plans for the colt.
“He’s enjoying himself and we’ll figure it out soon,” McCarthy said. “Right now, I don’t know.
Last summer, Johannes won the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes in the third start of a six-race campaign that featured five stakes wins and a game second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.
This summer, the $250,000 Read Stakes is tentatively scheduled to be the first start of the year for Johannes, trainer Tim Yakteen said over the weekend.
“We won’t make any commitments until we get closer to the race, but the Eddie Read is in our backyard and a logical spot,” Yakteen said. “He’s doing well.”
The success of the ongoing Los Alamitos summer meeting may depend on participation from runners that raced in Northern California last year.
The three-week meeting began on Friday and continues through July 6. This is the first Los Alamitos daytime Thoroughbred meeting since racing ceased in Northern California last December. A fall meeting at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton had poor business figures, leading to the cancellation of a proposed winter-spring meeting.
Led by the Grade 2 winners Dr. Venkman and Mi Hermano Ramon, California trainer Mark Glatt plans to send four prominent runners to Churchill Downs for stakes on June 28.
Dr. Venkman is booked to start in the Grade 3 Kelly’s Landing Stakes, a $250,000 race at 6 1/2 furlongs. A 5-year-old gelding, Dr. Venkman was second by 5 1/2 lengths to the exciting colt Nysos in his first start of 2025 in the Grade 3 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on May 31. Last July, Dr. Venkman won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Like just about everybody else with horses currently stabled on the grounds at Saratoga, Friday morning was a particularly busy one for trainer George Weaver once the turf course opened for training for just the second time this spring.
Weaver sent out 10 horses to breeze over the grass at the Oklahoma training track, including four – Sacred Wish, Governor Sam, Outlaw Kid, and Golden Channel – during the special session reserved for stakes horses immediately after the course opened at 10 a.m.
Cugino made a successful 4-year-old debut Thursday at Aqueduct, winning a third-level allowance race by one length, adding more depth to trainer Shug McGaughey’s older male turf division.
Cugino, who ended his 3-year-old season with a victory in the Tropical Park Derby, saved all the ground under Irad Ortiz Jr., then split horses in the stretch to earn the victory. His final time of 1:40.99 for 1 1/16-miles was just .88 of a second off the course record and translated to a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, a career-best.
Take Charge Tom, a three-time stakes winner who is coming off a third-place finish in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park, is headed to Canada.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro said the 3-year-old is scheduled to run next in the $50,000 Derby Trial at a mile on July 14 at Assiniboia Downs. The goal is for Take Charge Tom to run in the Western Canadian Derby series that begins with the $125,000 Manitoba Derby on Aug. 4 at Assiniboia.