Tue, 05/16/2023 - 11:18

Pimlico looks to highlight Black-Eyed Susan card; adds two-day betting options

By Matt Hegarty
Barbara D. Livingston
Pimlico Race Course has added additional betting options for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Preakness cards.

Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore has added eight pick five bets to its wagering menus for the Friday and Saturday cards this week, hoping to leverage the low-takeout bets into substantial handle gains for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Preakness cards.

Two of the new pick five bets will link races on the Friday card to races on the Saturday card, with both ending in the Preakness, which is scheduled as the 13th race on a 14-race card. Both also include the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

Mon, 05/15/2023 - 13:10

Rich Strike to Blackwood Stables in Versailles

By Nicole Russo
Trainer Eric Reed plans to run Rich Strike three times at Churchill this year: In the Alysheba, the Stephen Foster, and the Lukas Classic.
Coady Photography
Rich Strike was moved from former trainer Eric Reed's Mercury Equine Center.

A new trainer has not yet been named for 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, but owner Rick Dawson indicated that he plans for the colt to remain based in Kentucky.

Dawson wrote on his Facebook page that his horses were moved on Saturday from former trainer Eric Reed’s Mercury Equine Center in Lexington to Blackwood Stables in Versailles, on the other side of town. Blackwood, a full breaking, training, and lay-up facility, has a six-furlong dirt track and a turf course and is accredited for public official workouts.

Mon, 05/15/2023 - 13:00

Smile Happy, Played Hard pointed to big July 1 card at Churchill

By Nicole Russo
Smile Happy, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., wins the Alysheba Stakes by two lengths over Art Collector on Friday at Churchill Downs.
Barbara Livingston
Smile Happy wins the Alysheba Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

Smile Happy and Played Hard, both of whom scored major victories on the first weekend in May, are among those expected to line up for another marquee card at Churchill Downs on the first weekend of July.

Trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed that Smile Happy is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Stephen Foster on July 1, a race that will award its winner a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic this November at Santa Anita.

Mon, 05/15/2023 - 11:10

Golden Gate plans to race Monday's during late summer, fall meet

By Steve Andersen
Shane Micheli/Vassar Photography
Golden Gate is planning to race on a Saturday-to-Monday schedule later this summer and fall.

Golden Gate Fields will operate an 18-day late summer and autumn meeting on a Saturday-through-Monday basis this year, eliminating racing on Fridays during the six-week season that begins Aug. 26.

General manager David Duggan said Sunday that a move to Monday racing will be an attempt to boost handle for the Northern California track on a day in which few tracks operate after Labor Day.

“Until we try to change things a little bit, we won’t be moving the needle,” Duggan said.

Mon, 05/15/2023 - 11:10

Prat will ride Country Grammer in Hollywood Gold Cup

By Steve Andersen
Benoit Photo
Country Grammer is being pointed to the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on May 29 at Santa Anita.

Jockey Flavien Prat has been booked to ride Country Grammer in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on May 29 at Santa Anita, the first time he has ridden the multiple stakes winner in the United States since a victory in the same race in 2021.

Prat rode Country Grammer to a second-place finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February 2022. Country Grammer has since been ridden by Frankie Dettori, John Velazquez, and Juan Hernandez.

Sun, 05/14/2023 - 18:41

Offlee Naughty tunes up for two-race turf stakes campaign

By Steve Andersen
Benoit Photo
Offlee Naughty was given a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for the San Luis Rey victory on Saturday

ARCADIA, Calif. - Offlee Naughty followed his win in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on April 8 with an equally sharp effort in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Those races are a prologue to a proposed two-race turf stakes campaign this summer – the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at about 1 3/4 miles at Santa Anita on June 18, and the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on Sept. 2.

“There is a lot of upside here,” trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday.

Sun, 05/14/2023 - 18:30

Dr. Schivel ends layoff, preps for True North with easy allowance triumph

By Steve Andersen
Grade 1 winner Dr Schivel is training for a spring return to racing.
Barbara Livingston
Dr. Schivel was given a 105 Beyer Speed Figure for his allowance-race victory on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The two-time Grade 1 winner Dr. Schivel returned from a layoff of more than 13 months to easily beat two rivals in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Saturday, a victory that in one regard took the 5-year-old’s career to a new level.

Dr. Schivel ran six furlongs in 1:09.19, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105.

The win served as a prep for the Grade 2 True North Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Belmont Park on June 10. The $250,000 True North will be on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes, and is expected to draw a strong field of sprinters.

Fri, 05/12/2023 - 14:44

Lord Miles breezes, likely for Belmont Stakes

By Mike Welsch
Barbara D. Livingston
Lord Miles breezed a half-mile in 49.50 Friday morning at Gulfstream Park, his first work since being scratched from the Kentucky Derby.

Lord Miles breezed four furlongs in 49.50 seconds late Friday morning at Palm Meadows, his first work since being scratched from the Kentucky Derby by Churchill Downs officials following the sudden deaths of two of his stablemates in races run at the track during the first two cards of the current meeting. 

Lord Miles, who earned his way into the Derby lineup by virtue of his upset victory in the Grade 2 Wood, shipped back to South Florida earlier this week along with the rest of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.’s horses who were stabled at Churchill Downs at the time of the incidents.

Thu, 05/11/2023 - 17:50

MonmouthBets app gives N.J. residents more fixed-odds wagering options

By Matt Hegarty

BetMakers, the fixed-odds betting partner of Monmouth Park in New Jersey, launched a mobile betting app on Thursday for making fixed-odds wagers on horseracing tracks in the U.S., limited to New Jersey residents, the company said.

Thu, 05/11/2023 - 15:21

Jockey Orozco recovering at home after nasty spill

By Steve Andersen

Jockey Irving Orozco is aiming for an early summer return to riding after sustaining fractured ribs and a punctured lung when he was unseated at Golden Gate Fields on April 29.

Orozco was hospitalized for five days following an incident in which Crazy Dreams sustained a fatal leg injury in the Lost in the Fog Stakes for sprinters. Orozco was under observation at a hospital for blunt chest trauma and broken and bruised ribs.

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