ARCADIA, Calif. – For now, Diamond Bachelor’s dirt races are behind him.
A stakes winner on turf at Del Mar last summer, Diamond Bachelor finished ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita last November and fourth in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes in his 3-year-old debut here Feb. 8. Those races were on the main track.
Diamond Bachelor is back on turf for Saturday’s $75,000 Pasadena Stakes over a mile for 3-year-olds, a race that drew a solid field of nine.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 1 winner We Miss Artie has been installed as the early 4-1 favorite for the 155th running of the Queen’s Plate, the opening leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, on Woodbine’s Polytrack on July 6.
The 87th edition of the Queen’s Plate winter book, compiled by Ron Gierkink and Alex Campbell of Daily Racing Form and Woodbine’s Keith McCalmont, offers early hypothetical odds on all 125 3-year-olds nominated to the Canadian Triple Crown. The nominees include 88 colts, 23 geldings, 14 fillies, and one ridgling.
Fast Track proved true to his name Tuesday, as the 7-year-old gelding posted a course record at a mile on grass at Turf Paradise, getting the trip in 1:34.06.
Owned by David Bloom and trained by Molly Pearson, the son of Taste of Paradise needed to set the record to prevail, as he gamely beat Tones by a nose under Tammi Piermarini in the optional-claiming contest.
Fast Track ($10.20) beat the old mark of 1:34.12 set by Mutak Gold in 2009.
The Grade 1 winner Fashion Plate will have a new jockey when she starts in the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks on April 5.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said Mike Smith will ride Fashion Plate, who won the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 1 when ridden by Gary Stevens. For the Santa Anita Oaks, Stevens will ride Ria Antonia, who was placed first in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November.
ARCADIA, Calif. - California Chrome, the easy winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 8, is being prepared for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
Trainer Art Sherman said Wednesday that the Santa Anita Derby over 1 1/8 miles gives California Chrome an important prep for the Triple Crown races. After the San Felipe, Sherman said he was considering skipping the Santa Anita Derby and going straight to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 3.
“I’m looking toward the Santa Anita Derby,” Sherman said. “We’ll give it a shot and we’ll see where we’re at.”
Social Inclusion may be the most noteworthy horse in trainer Manny Azpurua’s barn following his record-setting allowance win over Honor Code here last week. But Wildcat Lily is still the most accomplished.
On Saturday, Azpurua will send out Wildcat Lily against six other older fillies and mares going seven furlongs in the $200,000 Inside Information at Gulfstream Park. The field includes three horses from trainer Marty Wolfson’s barn – My Pal Chrisy, Centrique, and Heart Stealer. Zia Zia Zia, Toasting, and Five Star Momma complete the lineup.
Commissioner, who earlier this year won an allowance over the well-regarded Top Billing, will add blinkers for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby on Sunday, said his trainer, Todd Pletcher. The horse was one of nine entered in the 1 1/8-mile stakes when the field was drawn Wednesday. Others set to start include the Pletcher-trained Global Strike; Southern California invaders Midnight Hawk, Chitu, and Garen; and local stakes winner Rebranded.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Backing horses rallying from off the pace in five-furlong grass races at Gulfstream Park is not usually a formula for success at the betting windows. But Free as a Bird appears capable of bucking that trend if she can repeat her last performance in Friday’s $51,750 feature, a second-level optional $62,500 claimer.
CINCINNATI – Tamarando was pegged as the 3-1 morning-line favorite after being assigned post 4 in a full field of 12 for the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes, the annual Turfway Park signature event, set for Saturday in Florence, Ky.
The Spiral, currently sponsored by Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati but sponsored by a variety of other entities since its 1972 inception, offers 85 points toward eligibility to the Kentucky Derby, including 50 to the winner.
Heliskier, who for the past two seasons has been named the horse of the year at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, will launch his 5-year-old campaign in Friday’s eighth race at Oaklawn. He’s part of a nine-horse field in an optional $50,000 claimer at six furlongs. Others set to start include multiple stakes winner Officer Alex, and the Grade 3-placed runners Jake Mo and Heaven’s Runway.
