ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A trend among stakes winners early at the Woodbine meet has been winter fitness, and that trend continued in the Whimsical Stakes on Saturday, as Purely Hot sprung the upset over top local female sprinters Youcan’tcatchme and Goldstryke Glory.
Purely Hot came into the Whimsical off a start in a $7,500 starter allowance at Keeneland on April 9, and having that race under her belt proved to be a key factor in the victory.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine will host a Kentucky Derby handicapping seminar ahead of the first jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday. The seminar will take place at 11 a.m. Eastern on the second floor and will be hosted by Jim Mazur, president of Progressive Handicapping Inc. Those interested in attending are encouraged to arrive early for registration.
The first 125 people to register will receive copies of Mazur’s “The Derby Zone” and “Sire Ratings” books. A live stream of the seminar will be available on Woodbine’s website.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bettors who got 5-1 on Untapable in the only Kentucky Oaks Future Wager this year find themselves in a good position with the filly classic to be run Friday at Churchill Downs.
Untapable is 4-5 on the morning line for the 140th Oaks, and Churchill linemaker Mike Battaglia said he believes “she’ll probably even be a little lower.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Gary Contessa had Uncle Sigh stretch his legs over a muddy Churchill Downs track Wednesday, and the Withers and Gotham stakes runner-up went a half-mile for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby in a quicker-than-anticipated 52.70 seconds. Contessa said he was looking for more of a 54-second move but was elated with the way his colt moved over the surface.
“My God, his body language was great,” Contessa said. “That’s exactly what I was looking for body-language-wise, so I’m very thrilled. Let him open his lungs a little bit.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a two-week span early in 2012, Chris Mara won a Super Bowl and saw his daughter get nominated for an Academy Award. If ever there was a time to press one’s luck, that was it.
So, Mara, senior vice president of player personnel for the New York Giants – a team owned by the Mara family – told his wife, Kathleen, that he was going to “pull the trigger” on pursuing a lifelong dream of owning racehorses. Two years later, Mara hopes that dream includes a trip to the winner’s circle in the 140th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Chantal Sutherland-Kruse made a risky decision to leave Santa Anita and return to Woodbine just ahead of the 2014 meet, but so far, the decision has paid off for the Sovereign Award-winning jockey.
Sutherland-Kruse sits in a tie for fifth in the Woodbine jockeys’ standings with five wins from 24 starts through the first three weeks of the meet and picked up her first Woodbine stakes win since July 2012 when she guided Purely Hot to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $159,300 Whimsical Stakes last Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Winchell family has owned racehorses for more than 50 years and has been associated with Steve Asmussen for 25 years. Over the years, the Winchells used a number of trainers, running the gamut of backgrounds and personalities, including Ron McAnally and Michael Dickinson.
[bc_video_id:322798:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The welcome mat was out here Tuesday morning for the three latest arrivals on the Kentucky Derby scene: the favored California Chrome, Dance With Fate, and Samraat. The one major piece of business to be completed Tuesday was a half-mile breeze by General a Rod, who made news of his own 24 hours earlier with the announcement that he’d been purchased by Skychai Racing and Starlight Stables.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Taptowne will be considered for the Lone Star Handicap at Lone Star Park, while another race prominent on his radar is the $200,000 Mountainview Handicap at Penn National on May 31, said trainer Tim Glyshaw. The horse returned to Kentucky on Sunday.
“There’s a couple possibilities for him,” Glyshaw said. “There’s the race back here, [but] we’re probably pointing for the race at Penn National, the Mountainview. We’ll just have to let him tell us, show us how he’s doing.”
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Isn’t He Clever ran arguably the best race of his career on April 13 when he won the $75,000 Sunland Park Handicap by 9 1/2 lengths and earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. His next move is to be determined, but he will be considered for the Lone Star Handicap at Lone Star Park, said trainer Henry Dominguez.
“He ran a superb race,” Dominguez said. “We were kind of sticking to the plan of keeping him in New Mexico. We might try the next leg [of the Global Triple]. He’s possible for the Lone Star Park Handicap.”
