Turf Paradise has named Mike Harlow director of racing. Harlow was the Phoenix track's racing secretary froim 1994-1999. He then moved to Santa Anita to serve in that capacity until 2011.
Former racing secretary Shawn Swartz will remain as Harlow's assistant. The two will be visiting racetracks in the western U.S. and Canada next month to promote the upcoming meet, which commences Oct. 18.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After driving through the night from Louisville, Ky., trainer Billy Gowan arrived in New York at around 2 a.m. Tuesday and, shortly thereafter, was reunited with his 3-year-old colt Ride On Curlin, whom he hadn’t seen since the morning after the Preakness.
Any fatigue Gowan may have had quickly dissipated after watching Ride On Curlin train over Belmont’s main track in preparation for the June 7 Belmont Stakes.
OPELOUSAS, La. – Sunbean and Heitai, who both won as prohibitive favorites on Saturday’s Louisiana Legends program at Evangeline Downs, could see action next month against open company on the inaugural Evangeline Turf Sprint card. Sunbean overpowered four outclassed rivals in the Legends Classic, while Heitai worked a bit harder to defeat 11 rivals in the Legends Sprint. The Louisiana Legends stakes were for statebreds.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Imperative, the upset winner of the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia last month, will skip Saturday’s $200,000 Californian Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer George Papaprodromou said.
Imperative will be pointed for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28, the trainer said. The long-range goal is the Breeders’ Cup Classic here Nov. 1.
“We’ll go for the Gold Cup, and we’ll take it step by step,” Papaprodromou said. “Hopefully, we can get to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Tuesday that Shared Belief appeared to have come out of his Monday comeback victory fine, and that he is in the process of plotting out the remainder of the Candy Ride gelding’s 3-year-old campaign. Making his first start since December, Shared Belief defeated older horses by 4 3/4 lengths in a six-furlong allowance race on the Tapeta main track at Golden Gate Fields.
After the race and again Tuesday, Hollendorfer talked of ending the year strong.
With Candy Boy officially declared out of the Belmont Stakes on Monday, jockey Gary Stevens is looking for a mount in the Belmont, but even if one doesn’t materialize, he will be plenty busy June 7, with mounts on Beholder in the Ogden Phipps, Grandeur in the Manhattan, and Fashion Plate in the Acorn, all Grade 1 races.
But he is equally excited that his big brother, Scott, will ride in New York, and at Belmont Park, for the first time aboard Broadway Empire in the Met Mile.
Uncle Sigh, 14th in the Kentucky Derby, drew post 2 in a field of 10 entered in Saturday’s $125,000 Mike Lee Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds going seven furlongs.
Trainer Gary Contessa had been on the fence as to whether to run Uncle Sigh in this spot but liked the way the colt had worked Sunday enough to enter.
“He worked good yesterday, came out of the work good,” Contessa said.
Contessa said he didn’t want Uncle Sigh on the lead in the Derby but noted that the other speed horses did not go.
Artemis Agrotera, the winner of the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont last fall, will make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 1, $750,000 Acorn on Belmont Stakes Day, June 7, trainer Mike Hushion said Monday. Artemis Agrotera, who has not raced since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November, had been under consideration for Saturday’s $125,000 Bouwerie Stakes for New York-bred fillies as a prep for the Mother Goose on June 28.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Cross Traffic, last year’s Grade 1 Whitney Handicap winner and tough-luck loser of the Metropolitan Handicap, recently returned to trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn and on Monday worked four furlongs in 48.20 seconds over the Belmont Park main track.
While that was his first work at Belmont, Cross Traffic had four works at his owner’s GoldMark Farm in Florida.
“He came in with a good fitness level, seemed to do that very easily, galloped out well,” said Pletcher, who noted that the horse worked Monday in company with Edison.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Based on his powerful victory in the Peter Pan Stakes on May 10, Tonalist is regarded as one of the major threats to California Chrome and his bid to become Thoroughbred racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 36 years in the June 7 Belmont Stakes.
In April, foot issues prevented Tonalist from making the Wood Memorial, eliminating him from Kentucky Derby consideration. It is foot issues that have trainer Christophe Clement taking all precautions as he prepares the colt for the $1.5 million Belmont.
