AUBURN, Wash. – Ask Tom Wenzel about pressure and he turns the conversation away from his stable star, unbeaten filly Stopshoppingdebbie, and toward the other horses in his barn – the ones in dire need of a victory, the ones whose owners want to know why their equine star can’t run as fast as she can.
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On Fire Baby has not breezed since finishing a disappointing fifth as the favorite in the June 14 Fleur de Lis, and trainer Gary “Red Dog” Hartlage said he is “just taking my time” with his stable star.
“She’s out here cruising around every day, just kind of taking it easy,” said Hartlage, who will remain based at Churchill through the fall. “We have nothing planned for her. Whenever she starts looking to jump over the rail, that’s when we’ll start thinking about her next race.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – There was a $200,000 turf race for 3-year-olds, the Centaur, Wednesday at Indiana Grand, and Belmont Park this weekend hosts a $1.25 million race, the Belmont Derby, in the same division. Even so, the $200,000 American Derby, part of the July 12 Million Preview card at Arlington, has a chance to come together as a decent race.
As of Friday, there were seven more-or-less confirmed starters for the American Derby, the local prep for the Grade 1 Secretariat on Aug. 16. The group, if it holds, is headed by shippers from New York, California, and England.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Irad Ortiz Jr., the second-leading rider at the meet, received two careless-riding suspensions in a span of three racing days.
On Sunday, he is to begin serving a three-day ban for careless riding in the Manila Stakes on June 28, when his mount, the favored Green Mask, came over and bothered Long On Value, who recovered to finish second, while Green Mask finished fourth.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Strapping Groom, last year’s Grade 1 Forego winner, has returned to the work tab, with a likely return planned for the Saratoga meet, trainer and part-owner David Jacobson said.
Strapping Groom has not run since finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Carter in April. Prior to that, he won the Gravesend and the Grade 3 Tom Fool over Aqueduct’s inner track. He has had a trio of three-furlong breezes at Aqueduct.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin got his newfound relationship with Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Farm off on a positive note Thursday, when he sent out the 2-year-old filly Cavorting to an 11-length debut victory.
Cavorting, a daughter of Bernardini who was a $360,000 weanling purchase, covered six furlongs in 1:11.37 and earned a creditable 79 Beyer Speed Figure.
“Very nice filly,” McLaughlin said. “Ian Brennan broke her and sent her up here, and she was ready to go. Since she came, she’s been pretty special.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Following Koffee Grinder’s impressive win Tuesday in the $50,000 Chris Loseth Handicap, trainer Craig MacPherson immediately started mapping out the best way to have the talented 3-year-old primed for the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby on Sept. 14.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Jockey Martin Pedroza was eight races into his comeback from a shin injury when he won on Thursday aboard Chattering Class in a maiden claimer at Los Alamitos.
Headed toward the winner’s circle, Pedroza was swept by a sense of relief and satisfaction. The result was what he said he needed to show others that he had recovered.
“I know I’m fit, but trainers want to see you ride and they want to see you win,” Pedroza said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Dale Romans said his three stable stars likely will stay put at Churchill Downs pending their next races while he takes the rest of his better horses to Saratoga for the summer.
Romans said he has yet to determine a next race for Silver Max, the 5-year-old turf star who won the Grade 2 Firecracker Stakes on closing weekend of the Churchill Downs meet when making his first start in almost eight months.