Sun, 05/21/2023 - 18:14

Brickyard Ride-The Chosen Vron showdown not a certainty

By Steve Andersen
Brickyard Ride wins the Kona Gold at SA April 30 2022
Benoit Photo
Brickyard Ride won the Kona Gold on April 30.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Together, the veteran California-breds Brickyard Ride and The Chosen Vron have won an astonishing 24 of 40 starts, including 17 stakes.

They have never met, and a rendezvous is far from a certainty at Santa Anita on Sunday when the track hosts five stakes for statebreds.

Brickyard Ride, the winner of 13 of 25 starts, is expected to run in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes at six furlongs, while The Chosen Vron is a candidate for that race and the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes at a mile on turf.

Sun, 05/21/2023 - 17:48

Trainer D'Amato having great spring on the turf

By Steve Andersen
Beer Can Man (left) beats Nothing Better in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint at PIM May 20 2023
Debra A. Roma
Beer Can Man (left) won the Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Not that he had a rough winter, but trainer Phil D’Amato’s stable has been particularly productive this spring.

Across the nation on Saturday, D’Amato won two turf sprint stakes with Beer Can Man in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico, and the Mizdirection Stakes with Elm Drive for fillies and mares at Santa Anita. On Sunday, D’Amato’s Conclude won the Desert Code Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters in what could be a prep for the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar on July 21.

Fri, 05/19/2023 - 18:15

Black-Eyed Susan/Preakness daily double will-pays

By DRF Staff

Black-Eyed Susan/Preakness $2 daily double will-pays:

Black-Eyed Susan winner Taxed (No. 10, $24) with:

1) National Treasure, $93.40

2) Chase the Chaos, $1,163.60

3) Mage, $62.40

4) Coffeewithchris, $856.20

5) Red Route One, $196.40

6) Perform, $217.80

7) Blazing Sevens, $160.40

8) First Mission, scratched

Fri, 05/19/2023 - 14:56

Match race at Belmont after four are scratched due to Lasix snafu

By David Grening
Barbara D. Livingston
Linda Rice was one four trainers to have their horses scratched from Friday's third race at Belmont.

Four horses were scratched from Friday’s third race at Belmont Park when those horses were not treated with the anti-bleeding medication Lasix in the prescribed timeframe, according to the New York Racing Association and several of the trainers in the race.

Impazible Donna, trained by Bruce Levine; Dancing Sophia, trained by Chris Englehart; Ok Honey, trained by Amira Chichakly; and Movie Moxy, trained by Linda Rice, were all scratched out of the second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claiming race that carried a $100,000 purse.

Fri, 05/19/2023 - 06:51

First Mission to scratch from Preakness due to hind ankle injury

By David Grening
Barbara D. Livingston
First Mission, training Wednesday at Pimlico, was scratched from the Preakness on Friday morning.

BALTIMORE – First Mission, the 5-2 second choice on the morning line for Saturday's $1.65 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, will scratch from the race due to a yet-to-be-determined issue with his left hind ankle, his connections announced Friday morning.

Thu, 05/18/2023 - 11:00

Mage has a melting pot of owners

By Nicole Russo
Barbara D. Livingston
Mage's ownership group features a diverse group that's hoping to capture the second leg of the Triple Crown Saturday.

Mage won the Kentucky Derby in his fourth career start for a four-pronged partnership. The Preakness Stakes favorite races for OGMA Investments, a partnership helmed by trainer Gustavo Delgado’s son and assistant Gustavo Delgado Jr.; bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo; Sam Herzberg’s Sterling Racing; and Commonwealth, a sports investment app offering micro-shares in racehorses.

Thu, 05/18/2023 - 10:40

Castellano looks to ride momentum of first Derby win

By David Grening
Barbara D. Livingston
Jockey Javier Castellano celebrates his first Kentucky Derby win aboard Mage. Castellano is riding high in 2023 as the recipient of the George Woolf Award and winner of six graded stakes.

A Little League baseball game played in a park in Garden City, N.Y., three days before the Kentucky Derby may have foreshadowed what lay ahead for jockey Javier Castellano on the first Saturday in May.

Bottom of the sixth – the last inning – in a 0-0 game, 10-year-old Brady Castellano, Javier’s son, gets his first hit of the season. Steals second. Steals third. Next batter hits a ground ball to second and Castellano beats the throw home, sliding in safely to score the game-winning run.

A celebration ensues.

Wed, 05/17/2023 - 10:15

Fresh faces with fresh legs have become the fashion in the Preakness

By Marcus Hersh
Emily Shields
Trainer Chad Brown has won the Preakness twice in the last six runnings with a horse who skipped the Kentucky Derby.

BALTIMORE – Every spring, hard on the third Saturday in May, racing scribes fire up “new shooters” pieces, stories about horses who skipped the Kentucky Derby and ran in the Preakness Stakes.

The main story this year concerns not a new shooter but a lone soldier, Mage, the only horse among eight Preakness entrants racing in the second leg of the Triple Crown after contesting the first.

Tue, 05/16/2023 - 14:40

Preakness: Godolphin looks to build on hot start to 2023 with First Mission

By Nicole Russo
Barbara D. Livingston
First Mission looks to add to Godolphin's hot start with a win in Saturday's Preakness at Pimlico Race Course.

The mission is excellence. And Godolphin’s American arm, chasing a third consecutive sweep of the Eclipse Award outstanding owner and breeder titles, is already in hot pursuit of that mission.

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