Jockey Sheldon Russell, injured in a spill on the Pimlico turf course on April 25, was released from Sinai Hospital on Monday and is resting at home.
Russell fractured several ribs and punctured a lung when he was thrown from his mount, Political Farce. He underwent surgery last Thursday to repair his lung.
Russell’s agent Marty Leonard said there was no timetable for Russell’s return to the saddle but that he would definitely be out for the remainder of the Pimlico meet.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Palace Malice, last year’s Met Mile winner who was scratched from Saturday’s Westchester due to a foot issue, was back on the track Monday morning at Belmont Park and could have a workout Tuesday morning, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
“Galloped perfectly this morning,” Pletcher said. “Might breeze him tomorrow and come up with a game plan.”
Pletcher said he would prefer not to have to train Palace Malice up to the Met Mile, a stated early-season objective of his owner, Cot Campbell.
El Kabeir, the three-time graded stakes winner who was scratched from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby due to a foot issue, will be freshened and pointed to a summer campaign, trainer John Terranova said Monday.
El Kabeir left Churchill Downs on Sunday and vanned to the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Versailles, Ky., where he will stay for several weeks, Terranova said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse plans to invade New York full throttle later this summer. Perhaps he’ll get a line on how things will go when he brings horses to Belmont Park for two of Saturday’s four graded stakes.
Casse, who ran fifth in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby with Danzig Moon, plans to run Dynamic Sky in the Grade 1 Man o’ War for older horses and Conquest Curlinate in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes for 3-year-olds.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland Racecourse has asked the state racing commission for permission to transfer its year-round simulcasting operations to the Red Mile harness track near downtown Lexington, according to records made available by the commission on Monday.
Finnegans Wake will be considered for the $1 million Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park on June 6 after his thrilling win in Saturday’s $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.
Finnegans Wake closed from last of nine in the final three-eighths of a mile to win by a head as the 7-2 favorite in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve, the most prestigious victory of his 29-race career.
“That was the only stride he was in front,” trainer Peter Miller said. “He’s a professional racehorse.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – When Catch a Flight won Saturday’s $100,750 Precisionist Stakes at Santa Anita, giving trainer Richard Mandella the 2,000th win of his career, there was no raucous post-race celebration.
“I was in bed by 8 p.m.,” Mandella said.
In fairness to the 64-year-old Mandella, there was a job to do, and other runners that needed attention, on Sunday when training resumed before dawn. Any extensive celebrations can be held if Catch a Flight reaches Mandella’s early summer goal of winning the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 27.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jockey Antonio Gallardo set a new single-season mark for races won at Tampa Bay Downs when he guided Silver Halo to a neck victory in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile ninth race for $8,000 claiming routers for his 145th victory of the meet.
Gallardo, who dominated the rider standings throughout the meeting, piloted Silver Halo for one of his main backers, trainer Kathleen O’Connell, then had to withstand a claim of foul from Jose A. Garcia aboard the runner-up Abu’s Dream before the record-setting win was declared official.
Tonalist came out of his 3 3/4-length victory in the Westchester Stakes on Saturday well, according to trainer Christophe Clement, and will likely be pointed to the Grade 1 Met Mile on June 6.
Tonalist earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 111 for his Westchester victory. He covered the one-turn mile in 1:34.07 despite lagging back in last place early for the first five furlongs.
“Everything is well with Tonalist,” Clement said. “He came out of the race in good order, and I will talk to owner Robert Evans, but the Met Mile will likely be next. It’s exciting.”
While trainer Bob Baffert landed the big prize, taking the Kentucky Derby with American Pharoah, he came away empty-handed with five other graded stakes starters on the weekend at Churchill Downs. The most disappointing performance belonged to 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern, who was never a factor while finishing last of six in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes in his season debut.
On Sunday morning, Baffert reported that Bayern emerged from the poor effort, in which he was 11 3/4 lengths behind victorious Private Zone, in good order.
