ELMONT, N.Y. – The two weeks leading up to the 2009 Kentucky Derby were torture for trainer Jimmy Jerkens.
His 3-year-old Quality Road – the winner of the Florida Derby and Fountain of Youth Stakes – went from potential Derby favorite to out of the race due to a quarter crack on a front foot that needed time to heal.
Mamdooha, a winner of 4 of 5 starts, including the Ruthless and Cicada stakes at Aqueduct this winter, will be out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a chip in an ankle, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said.
Mamdooha, a daughter of Daaher owned by Shadwell Stable, was sent to Kentucky this week to have the chip removed. McLaughlin said he is hopeful Mamdooha will be back to him for a late-summer or fall campaign.
Coup de Grace, the winner of the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct on April 5, will point to the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont on June 7. The Woody Stephens, like the Bay Shore, is run at seven furlongs.
“The question is, do we want to run him between now and then?” trainer Chad Brown said. “He does run well fresh. His training will dictate what decision we’ll make.”
Romansh, the winner by a neck over Godolphin stablemate Long River in the Grade 3 Excelsior Stakes, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap on June 7, trainer Tom Albertrani said Wednesday.
New rules regarding the administration of medication and a new penalty schedule for trainers violating medication regulations will go into effect in Delaware on May 11, the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission said Wednesday.
Delaware’s only Thoroughbred track, Delaware Park, opens May 17, six days after the rules are scheduled to go into effect.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Linda Rice had the Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap circled on her calendar for her New York-bred filly La Verdad for several months.
Rice hopes she has La Verdad primed to capture her first graded stakes victory in the six-furlong Distaff following a victory in the Broadway Stakes for New York-breds on March 29,
“Whether I used that race on the 29th was optional, but this is the race I’ve been pointing towards,” Rice said. “She’s coming into this race very well.”
ThistleDown opens a 122-day meet Friday with larger purses and larger fields. It is the second racing season that the North Randall, Ohio, track has operated as a racino.
Purses this year will start out averaging $105,000 a card, up from around $80,000 last year and $48,000 in 2012.
“The figures from this year and last do not include money added by the Ohio Thoroughbred Fund; the figure from 2012 does,” said Dave Basler, executive director of the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.
Basler expects overnight purses to climb higher later in the year.
After claiming his third straight victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap last month, Game On Dude will go for his second straight success in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic on Saturday night, when he takes on six rivals in the $1.5 million race run at 1 1/8 miles around three turns.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Although it almost surely will have no impact on the 140th Kentucky Derby, there still are 10 Derby qualifying points available to the winner of the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland, where a field of 11 has been drawn for the 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race.
From the rail, this is the field for the Lexington, which goes as the ninth of 10 races:
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Even with the likelihood of a heavy favorite in Untapable, racing officials at Churchill Downs in Louisville are expecting a full gate of 14 3-year-old fillies for the 140th Kentucky Oaks on May 2.
At this early juncture, Churchill is listing at least 19 fillies as possible for the Grade 1, $1 million Oaks, with Untapable being the points leader under the same type of eligibility system in place for the Kentucky Derby.
