LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saturday night at Churchill Downs will mark an important trial run – and not necessarily on the racetrack.
Yes, the opening-night Downs After Dark program will be highlighted by the long-misnomered Derby Trial, but it also will mark the debut of the much-heralded video board that now towers high above the Churchill backstretch.
Romantica, the runner-up to Dank in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last fall in her only start in North America, heads a field of 12 fillies and mares entered in the Thursday feature at Keeneland, the Grade 3, $150,000 Bewitch Stakes.
Now trained by Bill Mott for owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms, Romantica will be getting first-time Lasix after a series of nine workouts at Payson Park this winter, capped by a final blowout at Keeneland. The 5-year-old mare breezed a half-mile in 46.40 seconds Saturday in final preparation for the 1 1/2-mile Bewitch.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – About an hour before Kid Cruz won the Tesio at Pimlico, trainer Linda Rice watched from Ocala as La Verdad rolled to a 3 3/4-length front-running victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct.
It was La Verdad’s seventh win from nine starts and her first in a graded race. She ran six furlongs in 1:09.10 and earned a 98 Beyer.
Rice said La Verdad likely will be pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont on May 17.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Inoel Beato broke his left collarbone when his mount, Market Blaster, unseated him while leaving the starting gate of the fourth race Friday at Aquedcut and will be out at least one month, according to agent Jorge Velasquez.
Beato won six races during Aqueduct’s inner-track meet and was 1 for 21 since the main track opened March 27.
Meanwhile, jockey Emmanuel Esquivel will be returning to Chicago this weekend to begin preparing for the Arlington Park meeting, which opens May 2. Esquivel was the leading rider at Arlington last year.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Like many of her colleagues, trainer Linda Rice was at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction Monday, trying to find the 2-year-old who possibly could take her to the spring classics next year.
It appears as though she already has that base covered this year.
Rice could be headed to her first Preakness Stakes with Kid Cruz, who scored a 3 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico. The win came six weeks after Kid Cruz stormed from 22 lengths back to win the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tests of speed and courage are what make racing so exciting and, at the same time, so heartbreaking. For every success story in the business, there are countless tales of what might have been, stories of horses who showed so much promise and potential but, for one reason or another, never put it all together when it counted.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Little Mike likely will make his 2014 debut in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs on May 3, owner and trainer Carlo Vaccarezza said Monday. Little Mike won the 2012 Woodford Reserve for Vaccarezza while trained by Dale Romans.
Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan also is being pointed for the Woodford Reserve.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A trio of Canadian-bred fillies made their seasonal debuts in the Star Shoot Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine and used the race as a prep for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on June 15.
Paladin Bay, the runner-up, wintered in Ontario at Highwood Equestrian Center but had been training well at Woodbine this spring for owner and trainer Harold Ladouceur.
“I was very pleased,” Ladouceur said. “She did her job, she came running. [Zensational Bunny] had a bit of a fitness edge on us, but I think Paladin Bay is for real.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – For the second consecutive year, a winter claim at Gulfstream Park has resulted in a stakes win at Woodbine for trainer Nicholas Gonzalez and owner Tucci Stables.
Puntrooskie, a $50,000 claim in February, sat at the back of the pack early and looped the field en route to a five-length victory in Sunday’s $127,750 Woodstock Stakes.
“It didn’t surprise me that he won, but it was the way he won,” Gonzalez said. “There were some good horses behind him.”
