CYPRESS, Calif. – It is a week of firsts for California Chrome.
The Kentucky Derby winner schooled at the Los Alamitos starting gate early Thursday, his first visit to a gate since the Belmont Stakes. On Saturday, California Chrome will have his first between-races workout at Los Alamitos.
Trained by Art Sherman and assistant Alan Sherman, California Chrome will work between the third and fourth races Saturday as he nears his first start since a fourth-place finish June 7 in the Belmont Stakes.
Russell Baze and Abel Cedillo combined to win all seven races on the Golden Gate Fields Wednesday card.
Baze won on five of six mounts, including his first four. He won with Magic Channel ($3.60) in the first, God of War ($3) in the third, Tell Her Yes ($4.40) in the fourth, and Olympic Blue ($9.40) in the fifth. He wound up the day winning on Sapphire Breeze ($7.40) in the seventh race.
Cedillo won the second with Melanie Rose ($14) after Baze’s mount, odds-on favorite Handfull, was scratched minutes before post. He won the sixth with Blue Blizzard ($3).
The Grade 2 Masters at Presque Isle Downs on Monday evening will have a West Coast flavor, as three of the 12 runners entered in the 6 1/2-furlong synthetic-track sprint have been based at Del Mar this summer.
The Masters has been won the last two years by Groupie Doll, who won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in 2012-13 and was named champion female sprinter in each of those seasons.
The four-stakes card at Churchill will overlap in large part with a 10-race program at Kentucky Downs, the turf-only track that opens a five-day meet Saturday with three stakes. In those races:
◗ $250,000 Dueling Grounds Derby (race 9): Global View and Medal Count are the biggest names among 10 3-year-olds in the inaugural running of this 1 5/16-mile race.
◗ $200,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies (race 8): Saratoga maiden winner So Cal could be a slight favorite in a very well-matched field of 12 in this seven-furlong race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The biggest news when entries came out for the four Saturday stakes at Churchill Downs was not who’s in, but who’s out.
Lea, the standout handicap runner trained by Bill Mott, was not among a field of five in the Grade 3 Ack Ack when entries were drawn Wednesday.
“He spiked a temperature Monday at Saratoga,” said Walker Hancock, president of Claiborne Farm, the co-breeder and co-owner of Lea with longtime partner Adele Dilschneider. “It’s not in his best interests to have him run.”
A terrific 12-race card Saturday at Gulfstream will start earlier than usual at 12:50 p.m. Eastern. The co-features are the middle legs of the rich Florida Sire Series for 2-year-olds: the $250,000 Affirmed for colts and geldings and the $250,000 Susan’s Girl for fillies. Both go at seven furlongs.
The Affirmed (race 10, post 5:34) has a solid favorite in Sing Praises, a 1 3/4-length winner in the first leg of the series, the Aug. 9 Dr. Fager. The Jacks or Better Farm homebred was assigned the rail slot in a field of 11.
Marty Wolfson said he hasn’t decided what to do next with Atreides in the aftermath of the colt earning a third straight 100-plus Beyer Speed Figure in a spectacular 17 1/2-length victory Saturday in the Monarchos Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
“I’m not really sure,” Wolfson said Tuesday by phone from the south Florida track. Asked whether the colt is a candidate for a Breeders’ Cup race such as the Dirt Mile, he said: “I can’t get that far ahead of myself.”
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Louisiana Downs drew its largest Super Derby field since 1996 on Wednesday, when 11 horses, led by Vicar’s in Trouble, were entered in the Grade 2, $400,000 race that goes Saturday. Vicar’s in Trouble was made the 9-5 morning-line favorite against a group that includes 3-1 second choice Jessica’s Star and 5-1 third choice East Hall.
Back in 1996, Editor’s Note won the Super Derby as part of an 11-horse field.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Seven 2-year-old fillies were entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie and eight 2-year-old colts and geldings in the Grade 3, $125,000 Arlington-Washington Futurity. It’s unlikely that any have a shorter fuse than Private Prospect, who has taken an unusual path on the way to a perfect record.
