ELMONT, N.Y. – Long or short? One turn or two?
Those are two of the main questions trainer Shug McGaughey must now entertain when it comes to his newly minted Grade 1 millionaire Honor Code, who zoomed from last to first to win last Saturday’s $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.
It was an electric performance turned in by a gorgeous animal with a strong pedigree.
“It makes the horse in every possible way now,” said McGaughey, who was thrilled to capture his first Met Mile.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Frosted had moved into second leaving the five-sixteenths pole of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, and for a moment, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin allowed himself to get excited.
“I was excited for three strides when we turned for home and pulled out, then I looked at the leader, and whoops, he’s just starting to go now,” McLaughlin said, referring to American Pharoah.
American Pharoah kept going right into the history books, his 5 1/2-length victory in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes enabling him to complete a Triple Crown sweep, the first since Affirmed in 1978.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After winning the Triple Crown, what can a horse do for an encore? It is a question that has not been asked for 37 years, but as with most of the 11 who preceded him, American Pharoah will get a chance to further cement his legacy with a post-Triple Crown campaign before he goes off to stud.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fury Stakes winner London Tower finished her preparation for Sunday’s $500,000 Woodbine Oaks last Friday with a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.40 on the turf training track.
“It was an excellent work,” trainer Steve Owens said. “We’re pretty excited. She’s had a couple of good works the last couple of weeks.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mike Marlow, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, was home from a full day’s work when American Pharoah walked into the starting gate for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Marlow, who heads the stable’s division at Los Alamitos, was settled in his living room, anxious to see if American Pharoah could sweep the Triple Crown.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Carl O’Callaghan, who won the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai in 2010 with Kinsale King, was suspended by Santa Anita stewards Sunday for failing to appear at a hearing regarding an unpaid debt.
O’Callaghan owes the backstretch supply company Angel’s Feed $10,962.94, according to a ruling.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Warren’s Veneda is likely to start against the two-time champion Beholder in Saturday’s $100,000 Adoration Stakes at Santa Anita, a race not expected to include the recent Grade 1 winner My Sweet Addiction, their trainers said Sunday.
Warren’s Veneda, the winner of three consecutive stakes earlier this year, was third behind My Sweet Addiction in the $294,000 Vanity Stakes on May 9. Beholder missed that race because of illness.
ELMONT, N.Y. – American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner, came out of his stirring Belmont Stakes victory Saturday in excellent condition, traveled back to Churchill Downs on Sunday for a two-week holiday, and will return to his usual base in Southern California before the remainder of his racing career is mapped out, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
“This horse today, for a horse who ran a mile and a half yesterday, looked pretty darn good,” Baffert said.
Golden Gate Fields’s leading apprentice rider David Lopez bruised the left side of his lower back and right ankle in a fall after his mount in the 10th race, Redneck Girl, ducked in sharply shortly after the start of the race.
Lopez was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland for precautionary X-rays.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Protonico, a multiple graded stakes winner, became the latest horse to be impacted by a virus running through trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn and was removed from consideration for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.
Protonico, 4, had won the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill in his last start and the Grade 3 Ben Ali at Keeneland before that.
