HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Silver Freak hasn’t raced since December and will be stepping up in class when he takes on eight rivals in Sunday’s $51,750 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. But one would be hard pressed to look past the speedy Silver Freak, who figures to stand plenty of catching in the second-level optional $62,500 claimer at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
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The New York Racing Association was scheduled on Saturday to make its final payment of a $25 million loan to Genting, the company that operates Resorts World Casino, adjacent to Aqueduct.
The $25 million loan was made on Oct. 22, 2010 by Genting to NYRA as part of an agreement between those parties and the state of New York. The loan was made to help NYRA continue operations until it began to receive statutory payments from the casino. Resorts World opened on Oct. 28, 2011.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Stonestreet Stables and trainer Todd Pletcher are debating whether to start Dreaming of Julia or Teen Pauline in the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn on April 11. Pletcher said Wednesday that upcoming works would be a big part of the decision process. There is a chance Pletcher could pass the race with both fillies.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Todd Pletcher said Danza is possible for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, and if the horse goes he would lift the projected field for the April 12 race at Oaklawn Park to eight. Pletcher already has Commissioner committed, joining expected starters Bayern, Conquest Titan, Ride On Curlin, Strong Mandate, Tapiture, and Thundergram.
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As an impressive winner of the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland last fall, My Conquestadory logically would have been a major candidate for the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes here Saturday.
But the 3-year-old filly pulled a muscle in her hip while training this winter in Florida, delaying her return to racing.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Little Mike moved closer to his 2014 debut after working six furlongs in 1:15.81 shortly after the first renovation break Friday at Gulfstream Park.
With regular exercise rider Faustino Orantes aboard, Little Mike broke off at the five-eighths pole, went in 1:02.82 to the wire, and easily completed the work into the turn before galloping out seven-eighths in 1:28.34.
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Taking a cue from other tracks with major Kentucky Derby preps, Keeneland will put in place extra security procedures for horses entered in the April 12 Blue Grass Stakes and subject the horses to additional testing, the track announced on Thursday.
Kid Cruz, considered by some to be a live longshot in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, will scratch from that race, trainer Linda Rice said Friday.
Rice had said most of the week that Kid Cruz was only "50-50" to run, owing to a shoulder strain she said was diagnosed out of his victory in the Private Terms Stakes.
Though Rice was happy enough with the way Kid Cruz worked Wednesday morning to enter the horse, she was not satisfied with how he came out of the work to run.
When last seen in New York, Wicked Strong was finishing a respectable third in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, setting him up for a potential trip down the Triple Crown trail.
But Gulfstream Park didn’t agree with Wicked Strong, who finished ninth in the Holy Bull Stakes and fourth in an allowance race, albeit beaten by Constitution, who won last Saturday’s Florida Derby.
Wicked Strong is back in New York and back at Aqueduct, where he will run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Princess of Sylmar, the four-time Grade 1 stakes-winning 3-year-old filly of 2013, will begin her 4-year-old campaign Sunday in the $100,000 Cat Cay Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Cat Cay, a one-turn, one-mile race, is expected to be used by Princess of Sylmar as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $1 million Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 7 and a possible rematch with Beholder, who soundly defeated Princess of Sylmar in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff to clinch the 3-year-old filly championship.
