GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Frosted Grace became a graded stakes winner Monday at Lone Star Park in the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile and will go for another victory at that level in July.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro said Wednesday that Frosted Grace has returned to Churchill Downs and is now being pointed for the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows. The 1 1/8 miles race is July 8.
Exaulted earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November with a half-length win in his Grade 1 debut in Monday’s $503,000 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.
A home turf course advantage will be a much needed benefit for the 6-year-old Exaulted.
“You’ve got the Europeans and horses from the rest of the United States,” trainer Peter Eurton said on Wednesday. “It’s a few more levels up.
“Hopefully, he’ll be ready for it.”
When Defunded won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Monday, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert became the all-time winningest trainer of a race first run in 1938 at Hollywood Park.
Baffert, 70, has nine Gold Cup wins, one more than the late Hall of Famer Charles Whittingham.
“I won it with a Kentucky Derby winner and Charlie won it with a Kentucky Derby winner,” Baffert reflected on Wednesday. “It’s an honor to be in that same list with Charlie Whittingham who is the all-time greatest.”
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Hayes Strike emerged from his Monday win in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park in good order and could make his next start in either the Iowa Derby or Ohio Derby, trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday.
McPeek said Hayes Strike is now settled in at Keeneland. The horse was a nose winner over Harlocap on Monday and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 90. Cristian Torres was aboard Hayes Strike.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Entertainment has added the swinger/omni to its wagering menus for Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Known globally as the swinger, or omni, the popular international wager requires horseplayers to select two of the top three finishers in a race. A horseplayer can win with their selected horses finishing first and second, first and third, or second and third.
The minimum for the swinger/omni is $1, and the takeout is 18 percent.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Javier Castellano may not be coming to the June 10 Belmont Stakes with his Kentucky Derby winner Mage, but the Hall of Fame rider is still coming to the race with a live chance to win.
Castellano will ride Arcangelo in the Belmont, the final leg of the Triple Crown. Three weeks ago, Castellano guided Arcangelo to a head victory over race favorite Bishops Bay in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Ten days after a narrow victory in the Preakness Stakes, National Treasure is acting like a fresh, energetic horse. John Velazquez, his jockey, would prefer to conserve some of that energy for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 10.
Tuesday morning, National Treasure, with Velazquez up, returned to the work tab, going a half-mile in 50.85 seconds over the Belmont main track, per Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.
Caravel will forgo a trip to Royal Ascot and instead make her next start in the Grade 1, $400,000 Jaipur Stakes on June 10 at Belmont Park, trainer Brad Cox said Tuesday.
Cox said the logistics of shipping to and from England were not ideal and, after consulting with his owners, Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel, and Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables, the decision was made to skip the Group 1 King’s Stand, a five-furlong race on June 20 at Ascot.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, a three-time graded stakes winner who was third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland last November in his last start, is nearing his 2023 debut in an equally prestigious race.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Monday that Slow Down Andy is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap, a $1 million race at Belmont Park on June 10.
