ELMONT, N.Y. - They combined to win six Grade 1 stakes in 2014 and were both finalists for the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly. Yet, somehow, Untapable and Stopchargingmaria never met on the track.
That will change next Saturday when Untapable and Stopchargingmaria will clash for the first time in the Grade 1, $1 million Ogden Phipps Stakes on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes program.
Belmont Park
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temp: 65
ELMONT, N.Y. – Barring a late change in plans, it appears that all the major work is over for the seven Belmont Stakes hopefuls currently stabled on the grounds after MUBTAAHIJ and TALE OF VERVE turned in five-furlong breezes about 2 1/2 hours apart under perfect conditions here Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – When Tale of Verve failed to draw into the field for the Kentucky Derby, his connections immediately began thinking about the Belmont Stakes as an ideal race for their long-distance-running 3-year-old.
Feeling they needed a race in between, trainer Dallas Stewart and owner Charles Fipke chose the Preakness, where Tale of Verve rallied from well off the pace to finish second, seven lengths behind American Pharoah.
Although Pedro Terrero won the sixth race at Golden Gate Fields aboard 6-5 favorite Smart Ellis on Friday, apprentice jockey David Lopez also was a winner in the race.
Lopez, his brother, Erick, and father, Charles (C.C.), competed against each other for the first time in the $3,200, one-mile claiming race. David, fourth in the local jockeys’ standings, won family bragging rights by bringing in The Alameda Kid second. His older brother, riding High Greeley, nipped his father aboard Time To Glow at the finish line for third.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On a bright, warm Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah was sent through what figures to be his final gallop here, as the colt was tentatively scheduled to have his final breeze here Monday in preparation for the Belmont Stakes on June 6.
Trainer Bob Baffert was scheduled to return from his Southern California base Saturday night to be on hand Sunday and Monday amid mild weather.
ELMONT, N.Y. – While his three Belmont Stakes starters were the focal point of his Friday morning, trainer Todd Pletcher had several other horses put in workouts for upcoming stakes engagements.
Competitive Edge, Pletcher’s undefeated 3-year-old male, and Curlina, a 3-year-old filly who has won two of three starts, went a sharp half-mile together in 48.87 seconds over the Belmont main track. The two then galloped out impressively, going five furlongs in 1:00.43 and six furlongs in 1:12.75.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Wicked Strong lived up to his name in a five-furlong workout Friday that went in 58.82 seconds in preparation for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 6.
Joel Rosario, who will ride Wicked Strong for the first time in the Met Mile, climbed aboard him for the first time Friday. Wicked Strong, equipped with blinkers that he regularly wears in races, broke off from the half-mile pole, went his first quarter in 23.17 seconds over the main track, hit the wire in 46.87, and then went his last eighth in 11.95 seconds.
AUBURN, Wash. – Northwest racing lost an old friend Thursday when Lindy Aliment, a popular official for parts of six decades, died at his home in Renton, Wash. He was 87.
Aliment was the longtime clerk of scales at Longacres, easily recognizable in the winner’s circle as the man with the hat. Hired at age 29 in 1957, Aliment, a schoolteacher, began wearing a fedora at the urging of Longacres founder Joe Gottstein, who reasoned that because so many of the jockeys were older than Aliment, a hat might enhance his image as an authority figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Get Happy Mister, the winner of the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes at Santa Anita on April 19, has remained with trainer Mark Tsagalakis in Southern California for an expected start at Los Alamitos or Del Mar in the coming months.
After the San Simeon, owner Annette Brown of Lakewood, Colo., indicated that Get Happy Mister would race at Arapahoe Park in that state this summer. Tsagalakis said on Friday that the plan was changed, but that he is taking a patient approach with Get Happy Mister.
