Services for trainer William J. Morey Jr. will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. Pacific in the Pacific Chapel at Skyline Memorial Park in San Mateo, Calif. (Hwy. 92 at Skyline Blvd.).
Morey, 74, died April 10 after a long battle with cancer. A member of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Hall of Fame, he trained millionaire graded stakes winners Dixie Dot Com and Bold Chieftain.
Finnegans Wake, who won three consecutive turf stakes from late November to early February but was second in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes on March 21, is bound for Kentucky.
Trainer Peter Miller said on Sunday that Finnegans Wake will run in the $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Churchill Downs on May 2, the Kentucky Derby program.
Msochistic may leave Santa Anita in late June as a Grade 1 stakes winner.
Saturday, the exciting sprinter won his first stakes in the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs in his first start for trainer Ron Ellis. Sunday, Ellis said the $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes, a Grade 1 at seven furlongs on June 27, is a long-term goal.
The Triple Bend is the final sprint race of the spring-summer meeting at Santa Anita before racing shifts to Los Alamitos and Del Mar for the rest of the summer.
Speaking Sunday at Keeneland, trainer Graham Motion said the champion Main Sequence is doing “really good” at his Fair Hill Training Center base in Maryland following his trip to Dubai, where he finished seventh in the Group 1 Sheema Classic on March 28.
“I’m so pleased with how he came back from Dubai,” Motion said.
Immediately upon his return from Dubai, Main Sequence was quarantined in Chicago before continuing on to Maryland.
Motion mentioned the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes on July 5 at Monmouth Park as the potential comeback target for the gelding.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Cozmic One, the first foal out of the 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, will make his career debut in a maiden race for 3-year-olds at a mile Friday at Santa Anita.
Cozmic One drew the rail in a field of seven. The colt, by Bernardini, has the same owner and trainer as the immensely popular Zenyatta – owners Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sent out Race Day to win the Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday and said the horse would be traveling to Keeneland on Monday. Race Day earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 110 for his 3 3/4-length win, which came one start after he captured the Grade 3, $250,000 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn.
“We’re really happy with his progress this year,” Pletcher said.
Race Day’s next start is to be determined after discussions with owner Matthew Schera, said Pletcher. One race on their radar, the trainer said, is the Met Mile at Belmont Park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - American Pharoah will fly to Churchill Downs on Monday to begin final preparations for the Kentucky Derby, his trainer, Bob Baffert, said on Sunday, the day after the champion’s eight-length win in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
“He’ll have a real easy week,” said Baffert.
Going forward, Baffert said American Pharoah will probably have one work in advance of the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – As if Untapable’s win in the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on Friday at Oaklawn Park weren’t enough excitement for Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen, the champion became a big sister Saturday.
Fun House, the dam of Untapable, foaled a full sister to the champion at 12:20 a.m. in Lexington, Ky., according to Asmussen. He received a text with a picture of the new Tapit filly from Winchell Thoroughbreds racing and farm manager David Fiske. She sports a beautiful blaze that is somewhat similar to Untapable’s.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder, the two-time champion, will have a campaign of Grade 1 races on opposite coasts for the remainder of the spring after winning her 2015 debut in the $80,500 Santa Lucia Stakes at Santa Anita on Friday.
Trainer Richard Mandella has plans to run Beholder in the $300,000 Vanity Stakes here on May 9 and the $1 million Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park on June 6.
He described her condition Saturday morning as “dead fit.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Firing Line, winner of the Sunland Park Derby on March 22, worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds Saturday at Santa Anita, moving closer to a start in the $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.
Ridden by jockey Gary Stevens, Firing Line worked alone. He was not vigorously ridden by Stevens, who was seeking a one-minute workout at the request of trainer Simon Callaghan.
“He was a little aggressive in the last few days galloping, so I let him do something,” Stevens said.
