LEXINGTON, Ky. – New arrivals have been filing into Keeneland in recent days as momentum continues to build for the spring meet that starts Friday.
Florida Derby winner Nyquist was among the horses taking up residence in the Keeneland stable area over the weekend. The unbeaten colt will train – but not race – here for several weeks before leaving for Churchill Downs, where he is expected to be the favorite for the May 7 Kentucky Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. has been so hot at Oaklawn Park that even his car was smoking on a recent morning at the track. And while the engine quickly cooled down, Santana has not. He won five races March 12, including the Grade 3, $200,000 Honeybee Stakes, and since then has had a pair of four-win days, his latest March 31.
“It’s been a great meet,” said Santana.
It will be equal parts anticipation and angst for owner Mike Repole when he runs his homebred Outwork in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
It was exactly five years ago that Uncle Mo – also owned by Repole – entered the Wood Memorial as the undefeated 2-year-old male champion who had won his 3-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park and was sent off as the 1-10 favorite in the Wood. Uncle Mo led into midstretch before his tail started swishing and he surrendered the lead to Arthur’s Tale, who was then overtaken by Toby’s Corner. Uncle Mo finished third.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mor Spirit and Songbird, one the likely favorite for the Santa Anita Derby and the other a certain favorite for the Santa Anita Oaks, put in impressive workouts Monday at Santa Anita. The Santa Anita Derby and Santa Anita Oaks will be run Saturday.
Both were officially given half-mile times by Santa Anita’s clockers, and both had their works termed “breezing.” Of the 122 horses who worked on the main track Monday, they were the only two to have their works designated as breezing. The other 120 horses were listed as “handily.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Found Money, a two-time stakes winner, was euthanized Monday at Santa Anita after suffering a catastrophic fracture to his right front ankle during a workout, trainer Doug O’Neill said at his barn about an hour after the incident.
Found Money was 10th last month in the Sunland Park Festival of Racing Stakes – which took the place of the Sunland Derby this year – but last year at age 2, he won the King Glorious Stakes for California-breds at Los Alamitos and the Santa Anita Juvenile. He also was fourth in last year’s Delta Jackpot and this year’s Sham Stakes.
Kid Cruz, who broke a nine-race losing streak when he won the John B. Campbell Stakes in February at Laurel, will seek a second straight victory Saturday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct.
Two years ago at 3, Kid Cruz won the Easy Goer and Dwyer stakes at Belmont and finished third in the Travers before being sidelined by a knee injury.
His competition in the Excelsior is expected to include Good Luck Gus, Madefromlucky, Norumbega, and Turco Bravo. Backsideofthemoon is possible.
Trainer Chad Brown will send out a strong one-two punch in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle Stakes in Lewis Bay and Clair de Lune. The Gazelle, at 1 1/8 miles, is a stepping-stone to the Kentucky Oaks on May 6 at Churchill Downs.
Lewis Bay returns to Aqueduct, where she won the Grade 2 Demoiselle last Nov. 28. In her lone start this year, Lewis Bay finished second to the undefeated Cathryn Sophia in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream.
Clair de Lune has won her last two starts, both one-mile races here over the inner track.
Cocked and Loaded, the winner of the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old, will make his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Larry Rivelli said Sunday.
Cocked and Loaded has not run since finishing fifth, 3 3/4 lengths behind Nyquist, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Rivelli at one time was planning to run Cocked and Loaded in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. But Rivelli prefers the seven furlongs of the Bay Shore to the 1 1/8 miles of the Blue Grass.
Calculator, a graded-stakes-winning 3-year-old of 2015, will ship across the country from Southern California to run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, trainer Peter Miller confirmed on Sunday.
Calculator is expected to ship here Wednesday along with Dalmore, who is being pointed to Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial by trainer Keith Desormeaux.
