OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Cadeyrn, an 11-length maiden winner over the inner track Saturday, will be pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial over Aqueduct’s main track April 9, trainer Jeremiah Englehart said Monday.
After a second and two thirds to begin his career, Cadeyrn, equipped with blinkers for the first time, galloped to a front-running score in a one-mile maiden heat Saturday. He ran the mile in 1:38.47 and earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jose Ortiz, the leading rider at Aqueduct’s inner-track meet, will miss the next three racing days here to ride in Saudi Arabia, according to agent Jim Riccio Jr.
Ortiz will be at King Abdulaziz Race Course to ride Leeman in the $600,000 King Abdulaziz Cup. Leeman has won six consecutive races and could be vying for a spot in the $10 million Dubai World Cup next month at Meydan.
“Alan Garcia called me about coming over, we got a decent offer, and if he does well, he might run in Dubai,” Riccio said. “Jose’s excited; he’s never ridden there before.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Idolo Porteno took Argentina by storm in 2014, when he was named the country’s Horse of the Year for dominating such classics as the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini. He is now based at Oaklawn Park and is nearing his North American debut, according to new trainer Ignacio Correas.
“We are planning his comeback by mid-March,” said Correas.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With the undefeated Mohaymen definite to run in Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, the unbeaten Shagaf is now confirmed to run in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 5.
Both Mohaymen and Shagaf are owned by Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Stable. Both horses won races one day apart at Gulfstream Park.
Shagaf, a son of Bernardini trained by Chad Brown, won a first-level allowance race by two lengths at Gulfstream on Jan. 29, the day before Mohaymen won the Holy Bull Stakes.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – At age 10, Allie’s Event is continuing to defy Father Time, scoring his third consecutive victory at the current Tampa Bay Downs meet Saturday in a second-level optional $32,000 claimer. The gelding used his powerful closing kick to rally for a neck win over Nate the Natural on Saturday. Ridden by Fernando De La Cruz, he paid $9.40 as the second choice in the field of nine.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Arnaud Delacour and Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables had a pair of impressive winners in $23,000 maiden special weight races for 3-year-olds on the firm turf course at Tampa Bay Downs over the weekend.
On Saturday, Aquaphobia rallied four wide from ninth place under Daniel Centeno to win by one length. Aquaphobia ($18.60), a son of Giant’s Causeway who was bred by the Jacksons, finished the one-mile race in 1:36.99.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Cocked and Loaded, the winner of the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs last September, worked three furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs last Thursday as he prepares for his first start of the year.
The 3-year-old son of Colonel John likely will have one prep race before going in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 9 and, if all goes well, the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs, trainer Larry Rivelli said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Under normal circumstances, an undefeated 3-year-old trained by Todd Pletcher heading into an important Kentucky Derby prep like Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth would be attracting much of the attention in the days leading up to the race.
But such is not the case with Zulu, who is taking a backseat to the more-accomplished trio of Mohaymen, Awesome Banner, and Awesome Speed in the prerace chatter.
Doctors at Highland Hospital in Oakland, Calif., revised their initial diagnosis that jockey Kyle Frey had suffered fractures to his left leg and right arm after being unseated by his mount, Pure Comedy, in Saturday’s fifth race at Golden Gate Fields.
Frey underwent a CT scan following the original X-rays that suggested the fractures. The CT scan showed the 24-year-old Frey, who won the 2011 Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding apprentice rider, had suffered hematomas and crush injuries to the muscles covering his femur and humerus.
