Erica Murray’s journey to becoming a jockey started as a toddler, when her mother took her to Louisiana Downs to watch morning training. It came full circle at the Bossier City track last Saturday, when the 17-year-old Murray won with her first career mount, Broussard. Following the race, a celebration coordinated by her fellow riders closed out a day to remember.
“I got ice water, baby powder, ketchup [thrown] all over me,” Murray said. “I’ve never been so ready for that my whole life!”
Minutes after winning the Kentucky Derby, Bob Baffert was being interviewed on NBC when he dedicated American Pharoah’s victory “to a friend of mine, Bob Adair, who isn’t doing too good right now.”
The comment undoubtedly went over the heads of the vast majority of Derby viewers because Robert Adair, while a Quarter Horse legend, is not well known in Thoroughbred circles.
Edison was named the 2014 Alberta Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old at the annual Night of Champions dinner at the Matrix Hotel in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, last Saturday.
Trained by Robertino Diodoro, Edison raced just once in Alberta in 2014, but his 11-length romp in the Grade 3, $200,000 Canadian Derby clearly was the most impressive performance at Northlands last year.
BALTIMORE – Neil Howard, here at Pimlico for Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan Stakes with a filly named Ahh Chocolate, needs no reminder that it has been 25 years since he saddled Summer Squall to win the Preakness.
“I don’t like thinking how long it’s been,” Howard said with a grin.
Owned by Dogwood Stable and ridden by Pat Day, Summer Squall ($6.80) defeated Unbridled by 2 1/4 lengths in the 1990 Preakness after having finished second to that rival in the Kentucky Derby. Mister Frisky was another nine lengths back in third in a field of nine.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Stakes winner Mischief Clem has been turned out and will miss the $200,000 Snow Chief Stakes next Saturday, May 23. Nominations close today for the Snow Chief, a mile and one-eighth turf race for 3-year-olds that is among five stakes that day for California-bred or -sired horses.
Mischief Clem finished seventh in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 14 at Golden Gate Fields, after which the colt did not train forwardly. After post-race tests came back clean, the decision was made to give him a break.
Down Town Allen, a favorite at Charles Town where she won 24 of 38 starts dating back to 2009, was euthanized Monday due to injuries she suffered during the Original Gold Stakes on the April 18 Charles Town Classic card.
Down Town Allen is the only West Virginia-bred filly or mare to earn more than $1 million. She was pulled up midway through the seven-furlong race as the 2-5 favorite with torn suspensory ligaments. She had been under the care of William Riddle at the Cecil Veterinary Clinic in Port Deposit, Md., since her injury.
Trainer Robin Graham cross-entered her promising 3-year-old filly Gypsy Judy in both the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes on turf at Pimlico on Friday.
On Tuesday, Graham said Gypsy Judy would run in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan at 1 1/8 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Rudy Rodriguez and veterinarian Greg Bennett were each fined $3,000 by the New York State Gaming Commission for administering a drug to the horse Sage Valley outside the permitted time frame.
The fine for both was reduced to $1,500 for Rodriguez and Bennett waiving their right of appeal. According to the written ruling signed by gaming commission steward Steve Lewandowski, “This penalty is reflective of the findings of the investigation.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Upstart, the Holy Bull Stakes winner and Florida Derby runner-up who finished last in the Kentucky Derby, is getting some time off at WinStar Farm and will be pointed to a summer campaign at Saratoga, trainer Rick Violette said Tuesday.
WinStar bought a minority interest in Upstart from Ralph Evans prior to the Kentucky Derby. Violette said Upstart is about a week into an approximately three-week stay at WinStar before he rejoins the trainer at Aqueduct.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Mike Luzzi, sidelined since November when he was badly injured in a paddock accident at Aqueduct, will undergo surgery Friday to remove a screw from his left leg that is causing him irritation.
Luzzi, 45, said he does not view the surgery as a setback in his attempt to return to riding. Doctors have not given him a target date for a return.
“I want to be 100 percent when I do come back,” Luzzi said.
