Trainer Ron Grieves was a bit surprised when he was informed Quincy Welch wouldn’t be able to ride 7-5 morning-line favorite Call Me Lou in a nonwinners-of-three allowance race that serves as Friday’s feature at Northlands Park. Instead, Welch will ride the long-absent Northern Yankee in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint that drew six horses and goes as the second race.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Craig MacPherson is trying to figure out the best way to get Bluegrass Pride to the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby in peak shape. The most important race at Hastings won’t be run until Sept. 8, but early nominations closed last Saturday with 46 horses.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Like many horsemen, Ron Moquett is always on the lookout for new stock to buy on behalf of his clients. His latest private purchase is Silver Valley, a 2-year-old filly who will get a stern test for class Saturday night at Churchill Downs when she runs under new colors in the $100,000 Debutante Stakes.
“I saw her break her maiden at Lone Star Park and just made a phone call,” said Moquett, who bought Silver Valley for owner Ted Bowman.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The brilliant but fragile sprinter Kinsale King returns to racing following a 21-month layoff in a five-furlong allowance race on turf at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday.
Quarter cracks have plagued the 8-year-old in recent years, limiting him to 15 career starts and forcing owner Patrick Sheehy and trainer Carl O’Callaghan to take a patient approach. O’Callaghan says he is just content to see the gelding racing again.
“It will be a big day,” O’Callaghan said. “It will be good to have him back. You don’t see too many horses come back at that age.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – It has taken until Day 40 of the 56-day Belmont spring/summer meet for an open-company 2-year-old race to fill. On Friday, there is a pair of juvenile races, one for males and one for females, that highlight a Party at the Park nine-race card that begins at 3 p.m.
In 2012, trainer Todd Pletcher won 66 races restricted to 2-year-olds, and the first juvenile he ran in New York, Shanghai Bobby, went undefeated, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and was voted champion juvenile male.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tests conducted Monday for the equine herpesvirus have come back negative on all horses located in Barn 1 and Barn 3 at Woodbine, Adam Chambers, manager of veterinary services for the Ontario Racing Commission, said Wednesday.
The horses in Barn 1 and the for-hire ponies, which have been barred from working in the mornings, must remain within the confines of the Woodbine backstretch until further notice.
But the Ontario Racing Commission has lifted restrictions that have prevented all other horses from exiting the grounds, effective immediately.
Louisiana is in the throes of a drought. Not one caused by a shortage of rain, there has been an ample supply of that in the region of late, but by the lack of any stakes action in the state.
From the running of the Rajin Cajun at Evangeline Downs on the evening of June 1 until that track’s signature event, Louisiana Legends Night on July 6, the state’s stakes calendar remains vacant.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pyrite Mountain, trained by Mark Frostad, is among the higher-profile horses heading for the $1 million Queen’s Plate here July 7. But Frostad has another Queen’s Plate candidate in County Lineman, who is well under the radar approaching the 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
County Lineman served notice in his two starts here at 2 when he closed ground late to finish second at six furlongs and then rallied to win at seven furlongs, with both races coming in Ontario-sired company.
MIAMI – Black Diamond Cat won the Major Moran overnight stakes with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure here back in August of 2011. It took him 19 more starts to win again, virtually duplicating that effort while snapping a nearly two-year losing streak and upsetting the Ponche Handicap earlier this month.
By virtue of his big effort in the Ponche, Black Diamond Cat earned himself a spot in the premier sprint race on the Calder calendar, the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap, on July 6.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In defense of a promising filly named In Kelly’s Defense taking four tries to finally break through her maiden condition, “she was catching some pretty decent fillies all along,” trainer Mike Stidham said.
Tread and Sky Girl were among the next-out winners to keep In Kelly’s Defense in the maiden ranks before she notched that first win June 2 at Churchill Downs. Now comes her first crack at allowances, and Stidham is optimistic the filly can handle the raise in class.
