VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Craig MacPherson is still trying to figure out the mystery of the very talented but unpredictable Miss Derek. The 4-year-old filly will likely make her first start of the year in the $50,000 Strawberry Morn Stakes for fillies and mares on Victoria Day, May 19, at Hastings Racecourse.
“I was hoping she would have matured over the winter, but she’s still a work in progress,” said MacPherson.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2-year-old filly Sea Mona won her debut against maidens Thursday, overcoming a troubled start and displaying a promising rally through the stretch.
Trainer Adam Kitchingman said Sea Mona is likely to make her next start in the $125,000 Landaluce Stakes for 2-year-old fillies over 5 1/2 furlongs here June 22.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, is within a month of his first start of the year, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday.
Unbeaten in three starts, Shared Belief worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 from the gate at Golden Gate Fields on Thursday. Hollendorfer said Friday that he would like to give Shared Belief three more works before seeking a race.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Game On Dude, the winner of a record three runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap and 11 other stakes, will have his next race June 28 in the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said Friday.
The Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita is run over 1 1/4 miles and was previously run as the Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park, which closed in December.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Tight Britches is starting to compile a serious win streak. She made it nine in a row Thursday night, when she defeated male rivals in the third race at Lone Star Park. Tight Britches won the optional $7,500 claimer by 1 1/4 lengths over favorite Mr. Fuzzybottom, while zipping five furlongs in the slop in 56.99 seconds. She was one of four winners on the nine-race card for the team of trainer Karl Broberg and jockey Junior Chacaltana, who top their respective standings at Lone Star.
AUBURN, Wash. – Robbie Baze’s best horse has a cool name – Scat Daddybaby – and a quick way of going. The 4-year-old gelding won his first start of the year in impressive fashion, running six furlongs in 1:08.20 here April 20 to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 84. It remains the highest Beyer of the Emerald Downs meeting, and Scat Daddybaby outran a group that included six stakes winners.
The week of the Kentucky Derby, General a Rod was sold, his new owners desirous of running a second horse in the Derby. General a Rod was in the Derby all right. But he didn’t get a chance to do much running because of a trip that went from bad to worse.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Donoharm will bring a strong last-race company line into his next start, the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap on May 26, according to trainer Bret Calhoun. The horse was second in an Oaklawn Park allowance won by Moonshine Mullin, who one start later captured the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on May 2.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dallas Stewart said Unbridled Forever came out of her third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks in good shape and likely will run next in the Grade 1, $750,000 Acorn Stakes on the huge June 7 Belmont Stakes undercard in New York.
“We just got outrun by Untapable, but I thought our filly ran big,” said Stewart.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said this week that the one-mile Acorn “has been mentioned” as a next start for Oaks winner Untapable, with the Grade 1 Mother Goose three weeks later the other return possibility.
Trainer Tom Proctor said the $500,000 Penn Mile on May 31 at Penn National is the likely next start for Global View, the winner of the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 3.
“There are some other spots we could run in, but that’s the most likely one,” Proctor said. “The colt came out of it good, and we were really happy with how he ran.”
Global View, owned by Glen Hill Farm, won the Grade 3 Generous Stakes last fall at Hollywood Park, then was defeated in his first two starts at 3 prior to his rallying triumph in the American Turf.
