As recently as earlier this month, Mathilda Burnham split her time between exercising horses for trainer Peter Miller at San Luis Rey Downs in Southern California and participating in horse shows.
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Laurel Park has made tentative plans to hold a live race card on Saturday after an initial review of the track’s main dirt surface turned up only minor irregularities, the president of the track’s horsemen’s group said on Wednesday.
Tim Keefe, a trainer who is the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, said that John Passero, a track superintendent with a long history working in the mid-Atlantic, made some “quick fixes” to the main surface on Wednesday morning and had concluded that any additional alterations could be completed by Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The skeptics who believed bubble horses only add clutter to the Kentucky Derby had their bubble busted last year when Rich Strike pulled his 80-1 stunner as a last-minute runner.
Will lightning strike in the same spot twice? The connections of a handful of horses eager to run next Saturday in the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs sure hope so.
Rich Strike, unraced since finishing last of six in the Grade 1 Clark here in late November, had his final work toward his 4-year-old debut when he breezed a half-mile in 47.80 seconds well before dawn Tuesday.
Rich Strike went winless in five starts following the Derby last year. Owner Rick Dawson and trainer Eric Reed already have tentatively plotted out a series of races for the Keen Ice colt this year, starting with the Grade 2 Alysheba on the Kentucky Oaks card next Friday.
The inaugural Preakness Stakes Future Bet will include a field of 28 individual horses and an “all others” entry, according to a list of horses distributed Tuesday night.
The field includes many of the top choices for the May 6 Kentucky Derby, plus a handful of horses whose trainers have indicated that they are shooting for the May 20 Preakness after the post-Derby shakeout. But the timing of the Preakness Future Bet will require players to make their selections prior to that shakeout – the pool will close on the afternoon of May 6, prior to the running of the Derby.
Tue, 04/25/2023 - 15:14
Churchill Downs
Tuesday, April 25
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 39 degrees
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The closest thing to a timed workout relevant to the Kentucky Derby on Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs came immediately after the track opened for training at 5:15 a.m., when the reigning Derby champion, Rich Strike, breezed an easy half-mile in preparation for his next start in the Alysheba Stakes to be decided on this year’s Derby undercard.
Tue, 04/25/2023 - 11:42
The owner of Laurel Park and the track’s horsemen’s group have reached an agreement to retain an outside racetrack superintendent to conduct an assessment of the dirt surface at the track, which has been closed for live racing since last week.
The superintendent, John Passero, will begin work on an assessment of the track as soon as Wednesday, the officials said at a Tuesday Maryland Racing Commission meeting scheduled just days ago to discuss the condition of the track and attempt to iron out hard feelings between horsemen and track management.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux has been suspended one day (April 29) by the Oaklawn Park board of stewards for his ride aboard Stilleto Boy in the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday.
Desormeaux was cited for “careless riding” in the stretch run of the race. The stewards called an inquiry after the finish of the Oaklawn Handicap, which Proxy won by a head over Last Samurai. It was a nose back in third to Stilleto Boy.
Desormeaux was cited for impeding the rail-running Last Samurai. The incident occurred near the sixteenth pole, according to the stewards.
Defunded, the winner of the Grade 2 Californian Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, is only one of several older horses who are candidates for major stakes this summer for trainer Bob Baffert.
The next major stakes on the main track for older horses is the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on May 29.
Defunded won his third stakes in his last five starts in the 1 1/8-mile Californian. Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Defunded hopped in the air at the start and closed from last of six to win by a convincing three lengths.